Reaching Your Full Potential Lies Totally Within You And Not Anyone Else.

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In this thing called "life", there are various milestones that will come along with living into later stages in life. There are special events and occasions that most people will experience that will leave lasting memories for as long as we live. A few examples of these milestones that I'm referring to could include getting your very first job and graduating from high school. Of course there are others that come as we live, but the two that I mentioned are ones that nearly everyone can relate to. Now I'm one of those people that believe that a good many people strive to live the best lives that we possibly can. I mean at the end of the day we only get one life to live anyway, so why not go all out to live the best life that you can right? I think that most people can agree that in order for us to live the best lives that we possibly can, it is pertinent that we must be able to reach our full potential. Now what is reaching your full potential? Reaching your full potential can mean various things depending on the individual that you ask. I believe that if you ask ten different people what it means to reach their full potential, you will likely receive various connotations of its meaning. I believe this is a good thing, and I'm going to get into why later on in this topic. People are going to have varying opinions on what reaching their full potential means, but people also are going to have opinions on what it means for YOU to reach your full potential. While it is quite normal for other people to have an opinion on our lives, their opinions can at times be unhealthy for us. There has to come a time in our lives when we have to realize that reaching your full potential lies totally within yourself.

Hello, hello once again to all you good folks out there! This is ya man Brad H. back once again bringing you all another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back once again to give my perspective on a topic that I think would help keep us all motivated. I hope all has been well in everyone's lives as of late. Before we go more into this week's topic, I want to start off by saying congratulations to all of the high school graduates out there that either graduated tonight, or are graduating during this weekend. I'm attending a graduation out of town this weekend, so I felt it would be necessary to acknowledge the graduates all over the country. So for my soapbox this week, I'm going to talk more NBA playoffs. We all know by now that the Golden State Warriors are just chilling and waiting to see who they will be playing between Milwaukee and Toronto. I believe that game six of that series is a potential closeout game for Toronto. Now most of you that are frequent readers here know that I'm a San Antonio Spurs fan, and that I didn't like how Kawhi Leonard basically abandoned his teammates during his last season in San Antonio. Now I may be a bit on the bitter side here, but I am rooting for Milwaukee to win this series. You can imagine how disappointed I was when the lost game five at home. I hate to say it, but I think the momentum has shifted, and I can see Toronto closing out this series tomorrow. I truly hope that I'm wrong in saying that. I ultimately think that regardless of which team wins the series, it is a likelihood that they'll lose to the Warriors. I would just rather see the Bucks get that opportunity. We'll see how it all plays out, but I think we can all agree that this has been an NBA playoffs full of drama and exciting games. It's almost a bit sad knowing that in only a couple of weeks that the NBA season will be over with. Well now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets go ahead and transition into this week's topic of how reaching your full potential lies solely upon you.

I briefly brought up earlier how there can be various meanings when it comes to a person realizing their full potential. I believe that this is important part of this week's topic due to the fact that a person reaching their full potential is something that is subjective. The same way that reaching your full potential can have various meanings can also be compared to what is considered reaching your full potential is from one person to the next. What could be considered one person reaching their full potential is more than likely completely different for another person. One of the things that I've brought up on many occasions through this blog is how we live in a world of comparisons. We as a people are constantly comparing and contrasting our lives to other people. Now I do realize that this is something that not everyone does, but if we're coming from a general perspective when it comes to comparing ourselves to others, I think that most of us can admit that it applies to our society. I have a belief that the comparisons also apply when it comes to we as individuals reaching our full potential. Now I am a proponent of comparing ourselves to other people when it comes to seeking inspiration. I believe it is perfectly normal to admire someone that is in a field that you're interested in and look at them as a testament to where you can end up if you work hard enough at something. However, there are many of us that look to others when it comes to the idea of achieving our full potential, and herein lies what this week's subject matter is about. Just as there are various meanings and ways of defining what a person's full potential is, there are also various layers and levels when it comes to reaching your full potential in certain aspects of life.

Now that we've established how there are differences and variations of what it means for one to reach their full potential is, I want to give an example of variance when it comes to reaching our full potential in today's society. Now from my own perspective, I believe that reaching our full potential means getting to whatever peak that we have set for our lives. I think of it as being the ultimate degree of happiness and contentment that most of us are seeking to find in this world. Now generally speaking, I believe the world we live in also thinks this way, however, I believe that society at large definition of full potential is not plausible. From my perspective on this week's subject, the society we live in deems achievements and material items as the biggest indication of someone seeing their full potential. Now I'm in no way saying that achievements and material items aren't important when it comes to one reaching their full potential. However, what I am saying is that these aren't the only things that can define a person's success. The reality is that there are going to be people that work hard their entire lives, and they still won't be able to reach what society believes is a person's full potential. Now because a person maybe hasn't reached the same level of success as Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, does that mean that they're not successful in their lives? Like I stated previously, there are different levels when it comes to reaching your full potential, and in my opinion, the same applies when it comes to having success in this world. Rather than trying to compete with others when it comes to realizing our full potential, it is more important to focus on meeting the standards that we set individually.

Dealing with the idea of not trying to compete with others when it comes to reaching our full potential, along with the importance of meeting the individual standards that we set for our lives is the primary theme of this week's topic. No one else can or should be responsible for you reaching your full potential; it is totally up to us as individuals to both realize and reach our full potential. I've already touched on the comparing of others aspect when it comes to this subject, but what it all boils down to is the fact that someone else successes are not your own; you have to define what success means to you in your own personal life. Furthermore, and this is something that I've talked about regularly on here in the past is that no one else in this life can ever understand what makes you happy as a person. Another person can never totally understand this because they can never see the world through the same eyes as you do. The reason why I wanted to write up on this topic is due to the idea that so many of us use what society deems as a bar for a person reaching their full potential. Rather than trying to keep up with what society at large does, maybe it would be more beneficial to us as people if we done the things that we like. Again, not everyone is going to be a millionaire or wealthy in this life, but what matters most is if you as a person feel like you've reached your peak in this life. From my perspective, it is only then that we've reached our full potential, but it is something that we have to be aware of and work towards.

I believe that I'm going to go ahead and end this topic on that note, so that means that it is time for ya boy to depart once again. Like always, I want to close out by saying thank you to each and every single person that came by for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope that there was some meaning and understanding that could be taken away from this, and I hope that it was able to serve as inspiration for some of you out there. Feel free to leave any comments and feedback below in the comment section, and you can connect with me on Twitter at the handle, @BradrickH. Well I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead, and a big shout out once again to everyone that is graduating this weekend. Job well done! See you all in the next once. Take care everyone, and peace out!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Not Tying Your Happiness To External Factors And Possessions.

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We all have different views and outlooks on what defines happiness in this life. As with nearly everything in life that has to do with having an opinion, the belief of what defines happiness for a person is totally subjective. Happiness varies from person to person, but I think that most of us have a pretty good idea on what is generally considered to be happiness when it comes to the standard that our society has set. I believe in in American society especially, a good portion of the general standard for a person finding happiness comes from accomplishments and possessions. For example, graduating from college is an accomplishment that undoubtedly makes a person happy. The purchase or acquisition of a new vehicle will make a person happy as well right? In bringing up these examples, I am in no way saying that these examples shouldn't make an individual happy. However, what does things like money, degrees and cars all have in common? They all are things that are external possessions. Now to live and survive in this world, possessions that are of external value are most definitely required, so I'm not saying that we don't need to have these things. However, I do believe that much of our society and culture ties whether we're supposed to be happy or not to these external things. We're all going to have our own unique opinions and experiences on what makes us happy, and I'm not going to imply that external factors and possessions can't make a person happy. However, from my time here on this planet, I've personally come to develop the mindset that external factors aren't the end all be all to having happiness, and tying happiness in with these things can be a devaluing mindset to have.

Greetings ladies and gentlemen. This is Brad H. coming back at you all once again, and welcome to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back to hopefully provide some perspective and inspiration for those of us that may be lacking in certain areas of our lives. I hope that all has been going well for everyone as of late. Always be grateful if things in your life are going well, because we all know how quickly things can change. If you've been dealing with some tough times or hardships recently, just keep on trying to make things better for yourself. Just like things can quickly change for the worse in life, they can also change for the better in an instant as well. Anyway, it is good to be back on here for another week. In the last topic that I covered, I talked about the NBA Playoffs that were just beginning at the time. We are nearly two weeks into the playoffs, and a nightmare that I didn't want to see happen came to fruition a few days ago. My San Antonio Spurs were defeated 4-1 by the Golden State Warriors. I'm being a bit sarcastic with the nightmare reference. As I mentioned in the previous topic, I expected the Warriors to win the series despite being a Spurs fan. The Spurs were just over-matched without having their best player, plus being without Coach Popovich after the passing of his wife just made it more of an uphill battle for the Spurs. While I'm at it, I want to extend thoughts and condolences to Coach Popovich and his family. I don't know the man personally, but he is one of the greatest coaches that we've seen in sports. Life related tragedies such as this take precedence over sports. Back to the Spurs; I just love how the team fought to the very end. It was just a reminder of why I've been a fan of this team for so long. There are likely going to be some changes with the roster over the summer, but I'm still proud of them. We still got a couple of series left in the first round that are going on, so we'll have to see what happens in the upcoming days. I do know that the New Orleans Pelicans vs. Warriors series should be a good one. Hopefully everyone is enjoying the playoffs so far. I know that I definitely have been despite the Spurs losing. Well I think that is enough soapbox talk for now, so lets go ahead and get into this week's topic of happiness and external factors and possessions.

As I normally do before covering the topics that I bring up at hand, I'd like to go ahead and give the standard disclaimer that I mention. We all have different views and outlooks on life. The goal with these topics isn't to focus on what is considered to be right or wrong, but rather to encourage others to open their minds up to seeing certain things in a manner they may not have before. Think of this as a hub for inspiration that can inspire forward thinking. Now with that said, I'm just a regular person with an opinion, so I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I'm all about us all being able to get our thoughts out there, and through the process of doing this, we can hopefully learn from one another. As I mentioned in the last topic, I believe that none of us are too big to learn from other people. As for some insight into why I chose this topic, I would just contribute it to recent thoughts that I've been having about how our society deems what is happiness. Most people talk about how happiness is a choice, which I generally agree with for the most part. However, there are many out there that don't share in that sentiment. If it were the case that they did believe that happiness is a choice, then so many of us wouldn't tie happiness to material items and possessions. If happiness is truly a choice, a person would probably be able to feel some form of happiness regardless of what they're dealing with and their circumstances. So with that being said, I figured it would be a good week for me to address my thoughts on this. I believe this is something that many of us already talk about to begin with, so I guess I'll go ahead and add my perspective on here.

Now you may happen be this kind of person, or you've probably found yourself around a person like this, but how many situations have you either said or been around someone that frequently talks about how unhappy they are with their life? Since I believe that we're living in a time where most people aren't happy, I'm willing to bet that most of you have been in situations of this nature. Now in saying that, I want to let it be known that despite me having my own personal beliefs on what happiness is, I'm not implying that any single person should be happy all the time. I understand that things happen in life so quickly that can cause a person to not be happy. Regardless of how happy a person is or seems to be on the outside, every single one of us have moments in our lives that can challenge our levels of happiness. I believe that this is all a part of the cycle of life and how we endure obstacles that are similar to the highs and lows of a roller coaster. Now, while constant happiness is unrealistic for the most part, what is a reality that most of us cannot deny is what I mentioned earlier. The general standard of what happiness is in our society often deals with accolades and possessions. Does everyone think this way? Absolutely not, but we all know that a lot of the reasons why so many people are unhappy with their lives deals with not having certain things. This can be anything from lacking money to lacking the love of a significant other in your life. The basis of why most of us as a people are unhappy comes from something(s) that is lacking in our lives, and these things are often external things. When you really think about it, this way of thinking shouldn't even be all that surprising in a world where most people are trying to keep up with what everyone else has, and there within lies the problem from my perspective.

I've stated this before on here, but because so many of us compare our lives to other people, we often tie our happiness in with what we're seeing from them. In other words, we base our happiness on a false premise of what we see from others. Many of us look at other people that are doing well, and we assume that they must be happy. However, it is always wise to be mindful of what you see on the outside isn't always the truth. Yes it is indeed true that a person can acquire possessions and wealth, but they can also be hiding the fact that they are miserable on the inside as well. Again, the acquisition of wealth and accolades is good, but these are things that can come and go. If we already know that these things are often temporary, then why do we put so much of what we think is happiness into them? Again, this is how our society has been conditioned over the years, and the reason why I address topics like this is to help encourage people (and myself) to realize that following what everyone else or society doe isn't always beneficial to your own PERSONAL life. The reason I put emphasis on the word personal is because only a person can truly know what is good or bad for them, and often what society encourages isn't always what is good for us personally. Anyone is capable of having happiness in their life if they learn to appreciate what they already have, and not be so concerned with what is going on with other people. This practice of constantly following what others do in my opinion is much of the reason why we lack happiness in our lives. Pair that with thinking that external factors and possessions are going to lead to happiness, and you'll find a world that has a lot of unhappy people. This is why I feel that it is important to not tie in happiness to external things.

What exactly do people mean when they say that happiness is a choice? From my perspective, it goes back to what I mentioned earlier which is the belief that a person can have happiness despite whatever circumstances they're facing. You probably don't really need a truckload of money to be happy if you have enough to take care of yourself. You probably don't need a big fancy vehicle to be happy if you have a perfectly working vehicle that gets you where you need to go. You probably don't need a ton of accolades and accomplishments to be happy if you have a good heart and treat people with kindness and respect on a daily basis. See where I'm going with this? It all boils down to perspective and how you see yourself. Even if you don't have much in the aspect of possessions, you are probably a rich person if you have family that care about you. If you have a true friend that you know without a doubt is loyal to you, then you are rich. I believe that it is the things in life that don't have any monetary value that brings us the most joy. I believe this is something that our society has gotten away from, which is why so many of us are unhappy with our lives. I want to encourage anyone who reads this that feel like they are lacking happiness in this lives to reevaluate the things that mean the most to you. Think about your relationships and interactions with others. Instead of always looking at the glass as being half empty, try and think about it being halfway full. Think of and appreciate all the good things you got going on in your life instead of all the thing that are wrong. Instead of looking at what you may be missing, take a closer look at what you already have. I think that if we begin to implement these habits, then we can get to a healthy median of happiness in our lives. That's just my perspective on it.

Well I think that I've said enough on this topic, so it is time to go ahead and bring this to a close. This has been another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective', and I want to give thanks again to those of you that came by once again. As I always close with, I hope that there was some meaning and understanding that was able to be gained from this. If anybody has any feedback or concerns, please leave those in the comments, or you can hit me up on my Twitter handle @BradrickH. Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far, and I hope that you all have an even better week ahead. We'll be in the month of May the next time I get on here, so lets try and enjoy the rest of April. Again, I hope you all enjoys the rest of the weekend, and I'll see you all for the next topic. Take care everyone, and stay encouraged! Peace out folks!

©2018 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.