During the Days of Awe, we must also consider if we are living up to our full human potential. We come to this earth plane not only with a soul’s purpose but with the potential to fulfill it and to live fully and to be our best selves. We as human beings – as spirits (or souls) in physical bodies – have the ability and the opportunity to live our lives to the fullest extent possible and to use all our God given talents and abilities. The question is: Do we?
What does living up to our full human potential look like? I imagine the famous Army advertisements we all know: “Be all that you can be.” Have you done that this year? Have you accomplished that goal? I admit, each of us can always “be” more, but have you become as much as you can become in the past year? Have you striven to reach your highest human potential?
Or…have you sat on the couch watching reruns of Frasier when you could have been reading a self-help book or a sacred text? Have you gone out to have a drink and watch a football game with friends when you could have been taking a class or working on that book you say you want to write? Have you ย buried yourself in a magazine or hid in the music of your Ipod’s headphones instead of spending time with your family or repairing a broken relationship? Are you eating ice cream rather than going for a run? Have you remained in your old go-nowhere job or have you pursued a new work opportunity?
Sometimes being all we can be also involves just “being.” We have to stop doing and simply be. This means allowing ourselves to remember that we are souls in physical bodies. We are here to have a spiritual experience as well as a physical experience. Indeed, we can have a truly full physical experience if we allow ourselves to remain fully connected to the spiritual realm at all times. This requires that we stop being human doings and truly become human beings. ย It is possible to do that while still taking action in the world. ย When we accomplish that, we are well on the way to living fully – if we aren’t already there.
Achieving full human potential also means learning to master our emotions and our reactions. It means creating really honest and loving relationships. It means finding a way to be the most and experience the most in every aspect of life. It’s not just about doing things and experiencing things. It’s about becoming the best us we can become. ย It’s about perfecting ourselves in all ways, shapes and forms.
So, on the sixth Day of Awe, as we move closer to Yom Kippur, go inward and get really honest with yourself. Ask yourself if you are living up to your full human potential…or even coming close. If you could “be all you can be,” what would that look like? Forgive yourself for not achieving this goal last year. Ask God to forgive you as well. Set a new target; visualize yourself living up to your fullest potential possible in the coming year. And end this prayer, for a prayer it is, with the words, “Ken yehe ratzon. May it be God’s will.” (If you’d prefer something secular, try these words instead: “So be it, so it is.”
