Buried Treasure : Potential Unleashed Again

This was originally posted On March 7, 2011.   I'm reposting it for the Buried Treasure collaboration, which is hosted by the very talented Seth Apter at The Altered Page.   We are asked to dig through our own art blogs and repost a favorite post of ours.  Potential Unleashed is a favorite because I was not just deeply inspired while creating the art, but also while creating the post.  So here it is...

Potential.  We all have TONS of it.  Yet how many of us truly live up to ours?  How do we tap into it... and unleash it?  What holds us back?

We do.  We hold ourselves back.  Oh yes... we have our excuses, but that's all that they are.  Excuses.

Hidden gems revealed

We all have these wonderful gems that we've been given...our true light... I say stop keeping it all locked up inside and let it all come exploding out for everyone to see!  Let your light pour out.  It's time!

I struggled with this painting, perhaps because I was struggling with coming to grips with my own potential.   I've been an artist my whole life.  It was never a secret to any who knew me, but I didn't think I was any good for the longest time...in fact most of the time.

I thought I had come to terms with it, but I still held myself back until something finally snapped in me a year or two ago.  I realized that God gave me this gift, and I thought I was using it, but deep down I knew better.  I finally realized all that I had, all that others saw, was kept in my tight grip.  I was so afraid of messing up and so wanted to please people.  What if they didn't like what I made?  What if I proved that I really wasn't any good...just like I thought all along?

But what I realized was in doubting myself I was doubting what God had given me.  I mentioned it before, but it must be said over and over until it sinks in for you too.  God doesn't make mistakes, so if you doubt your gifts and your potential, then you're doubting Him.

Our true selves and struggles are released onto the canvas...each one a self-portrait of sorts.

To sum this up way better than I could, here is one of my all time favorite quotes.  This is so darn powerful.  It gets me EVERY time I read it.  Copy it.  Paste it where you can read it everyday.  Let it sink in.  It will change you.  It will help you unleash.  Let it.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

--marianne williamson