The other day I was talking to a wise friend about my desire to live my fullest potential from my soul’s perspective.
Of all the possibilities and collaborations my spirit envisioned before taking on a human body, I want to live the biggest, brightest, and most wonderful ones of all.
I want to leave this life knowing I went full out on my journey, not leaving anything on the table when it’s all said and done.
I’d always assumed this would require reaching and helping as many people as possible with a transformational message; or creating a super-successful, heart-centered, spirit-driven business; or changing the world Oprah-style.
But my wise friend then said something that stopped me in my tracks: From the soul’s perspective, to fully self-realize and to live one’s fullest potential is to simply love oneself and live fully. And there is no specific plan you must follow or destiny to fulfill to get there. Whoa. Mind blown.
If that is true, you could (for example) have the fame, fortune, success, path, and power of Jeff Bezos, Jennifer Aniston, or Prince William, and not be living your soul’s fullest potential because you do not “love yourself and live fully.”
Conversely, a life without the trappings of success as typically defined by our culture (e.g., respectable career, thousands of social media followers, the perfect body, a large bank account, a material or familial legacy) could be lived in its greatest potential simply because you loved yourself and lived fully, whatever that means to you.
As revolutionary as this shift in thinking may be, it kinda makes sense. There is little that is more magnetic than someone who truly loves themself and is living fully. Their light blazes like a beacon, leaving others to bask in its glow and wanting what they have.
So do you love yourself? And can you still love yourself if you’re in a body that is unwell, ailing, or not the “right” size? Can you love yourself if your finances are a mess? Can you love yourself if you don’t have the perfect partner by your side to prove that you are lovable?
And are you living fully? Not by your parents’ or your culture’s or your community’s definition of it. What does it look like for you to live fully? The answer will be as unique to you as your very soul is.
As we have fully stepped into a New Year and new decade, I’m giving some serious attention to whether I truly love myself and am living fully. I invite you to do the same. It might just be the best resolution (if you’re into those) you ever make!