Our body constantly strives to reach its full basic potential. As our surroundings influence our actual potential, different born abilities and traits are nurtured and others dismissed, creating a constant imbalance between whom we are and who we can potentially be.
We can train our body to realize its basic potential, not as we thought we were, but as we should be. We can reach closer to our basic potential by training our body to realize its true range of abilities. We can expand our physical potential, our flexibility, strength and our ability to breathe fully, we can create silence, think and focus better, we can experience our body with confidence, not comparing and pushing toward an idea of how our body should be.
When we are born our body already contains not only our physical potential- our sex, height, the color of our skin, eyes, hair, but also holds the potential of our abilities and strengths. Each individual has a different strengths and weaknesses. We are born with the ability to realize the potential of these strengths if we allow our body to be free and function at its best. Some are born with strong physical abilities, some are able to think fast, some have a very logical way of thinking, some highly sensitive, some with a great memory. Each of us can learn and practice these abilities, but some are better than others in each field, and this is because of our own basic potential. No matter how much I will practice running, I will probably never run as fast as a natural born athlete even if we've both trained the exact same amount of time. We can try to get better and straighten our abilities, but our body already holds our limit. There is a limit to how high my voice can reach, how far I can throw a ball, how fast I can run or even how much I am able to contain and be empathetic to another person's sorrow.
From the moment we are born, we learn from our surroundings how to act, how to communicate, what abilities must be strengthened and what abilities are not. Our physical potential and our immediate surroundings (family, community and society), directly influence what kind of person we grow up to be, as well as our life experience. We are educated and disciplined to function best in our surroundings and influenced by what we learn from our immediate family to the things we see on T.V.. Different societies value different set of abilities. The western capitalistic society holds in high regard an individual's ability to create financial and materialistic gain. In primitive tribal society, an individual is measured by his ability to provide the food and the security needs of his community. The set of skills both individuals are required to have, shape and mold and even restrict the basic potential they were born with. The first, putting much emphasis on intellect and knowledge in order to gain more capital and power, and the second regarding physical superiority as the means to secure the wellbeing of his tribe. Both individuals strive for more power, but one gains this mainly by studying, analyzing and thinking and the other mainly by becoming stronger and faster. Both require the nurturing of different sets of abilities and skills. Being fast and physically strong won't necessary help us gain more capital, and ability to analyze numbers won't guaranty our ability to hunt.
We will strive, but will never actually realize the full range of our full basic potential. We will never reach our full basic potential. There will always be a gap between our basic and actual potential. We need much energy and attention at all times and in all aspects of our lives to allow our full potential. We will need to acknowledge our real strengths and weaknesses, we will need to stop our automatic conclusions and knee-jerk reactions, we will need to fully trust ourselves, we will have to notice what we really want and bring all of our will and power to achieve it, we will have to be physical, noticing reality as it really is and we'll have to do all these, taking our surroundings into consideration (things that are illegal, that can hurt others, things that society won't except...). We strive but most likely never realize our full basic potential.