I love reminding people of the greatness they have within. Sometimes it feels like I have performed a spiritual and emotional jumpstart.
While in the military, I was stationed in North Dakota. The landscape was beautiful and the people were kind, but the winter weather was very, very cold. The unforgiving cold led to a common situation of seeing cars needing a jumpstart.
When I would see someone on the side of the road or in a parking lot with a dead battery, I would pull up next to them and take out my jumper cables and by attaching my living battery to their dead one, they were able to start their car.
During that process, my functioning battery doesn’t have to teach their dead battery how to be a battery. The process of jumpstarting doesn’t teach the battery to be what it already is. All the living battery does is remind the dead battery of its initial potential. It reminds it of its power. Once the dead battery is back to functioning within its potential, I disconnect my cables and wave good-bye as they drive away.
When people send me emails, or speak to me after my seminars, and thank me for teaching them to be amazing or successful, I think of this jumpstart scenario. I don’t teach you how to be amazing; you’re already amazing. I don’t teach you to be resilient; you are already resilient. I don’t teach you to be successful; you are already designed for success. What I do, along this journey of life, is stop along the way when I encounter someone whose journey has ceased, and connect with them to jumpstart and remind them of the greatness within.
Keep in mind that you too will come across people who need a spiritual or emotional jumpstart. Connect with these individuals and remind them of their potentiality, of their beauty, of their worth, and of their innate strength… then let them be on their way, so that they may do the same for someone else.
© Steve Maraboli
From the book, “Unapologetically You“