Relationship potential is the substance of what Henry Miller describes in the above quote. Miller reminds me that, to reach our potential in life, in our family, at work, and in our play, we must be able to connect with others, and have positive relationships that promote collaborative engagement. As I shared in my article, “Don’t Settle,” great, gifted employees want to be part of something bigger than themselves. Loving what we do, and who we do it with is bigger than just a job or making money.
Relationship Potential: Personal
I was thinking that when I became “engaged” to my wife, it was in that moment I realised that we had started a lifelong conversation of mutual attraction; holding each other fast; pleasing one another. Each morning, we are the same, and we are new—like Niagara Falls. I have been there dozens of times, yet the water flowing down the mighty river into the gorge is fresh and new every moment. Together, we engage afresh each morning. We fall in love again. We forget the waters of life that flowed by yesterday and live in the today; right now. Yet, life flows over the solid rock of us.
Relationship Potential: Professional
You may not be comfortable talking about love in the context of your job. That is because in today’s Western world, we normally define love in what the ancient Greek called eros, or romantic love. As you know, we use the word love in many different contexts. We can “fall in love” with our work afresh after seasons of weariness. We can love what we do for a living. We can love the team we are on in our work. We can appreciate our workplace collaborators afresh. We can forget the things that may have offended or irritated us at work by communicating about them with the people involved.
As I think about love and work, it means bringing my whole self to work. I choose to build my life and work on a foundation of virtue and character. When we develop the ability to relate to others by recycling our failings and shortcomings by learning what was at the root of the conflicts we have with others. Then, we correct our areas in need of growth by adjusting our own personal weaknesses.
We are realising our potential, rising toward peak experience, and becoming fully human.