Do you realize how incredible you are? Perhaps you have forgotten. Just for a few minutes we are going to focus on you. All 75 trillion cells that make up the “incredible you.” Let’s UNCOVER!

When you hold a child for the first time aren’t you astounded at the beauty and possibility in that tiny body? Why is it that when we are children we have no limits on our imaginations of what we can do or who we will be?

As adults, we must acquire those childlike attributes again if we are to ever accomplish our deepest dreams and desires.

Words, such as faith, confidence and vision are all powerful words. They are only words if we don’t put them into action.

How many of you set goals at the beginning of a new year? How many of you have accomplished some of those goals already?

Often times, our past impacts our future steps.

There was a young girl born into poverty to a single mother. This young girl was raped at age nine and became pregnant at age 14 and the baby died in infancy. This woman could have let her past records of being a victim and succumbing to the attitude of “this must be my lot in life.” But she did not. In fact, this woman is worth over 2.7 billion dollars today. This woman, if you haven’t already guessed is Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah could have let her past impact what she could have potentially become. She didn’t just survive life she put it behind her and thrived. She is an incredible example of uncovering her potential.

What is your potential? Have you given up on it? Are you exploring what exactly “it” is?

There is a scripture in the New Testament of the Holy Bible in 2nd Timothy Chapter 1 verse 7 which reads: “For God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.”

We have it within each one of us the potential to do and be an incredible power and force for good. You may have already begun to see that in your life. I truly hope so.

Each of us is born beautiful. We are! Remember when you see and hold a newborn – what it is you feel? As life unwinds for each of us, we may forget about the beauty within.

I have a wonderful friend that I knew many years ago named Susan. One evening we were together with a bunch of other beautiful and incredible women at a book club sleepover in the mountains at one of the member’s cabin in the high mountains of Utah. The conversation turned to how we viewed ourselves individually. I remember Susan declaring that she was not beautiful nor did she think she was and was “ok” with that. One of the other women made the comment about Susan’s daughters and how beautiful they are. She asked Susan “don’t you think your daughters are beautiful?” Susan answered “absolutely” – they look just like her. Even with all the convincing we tried, we could not get Susan to see the beauty that she has.

This experience haunted me. It made me realize that what we think or perceive is very important to our ability to experience joy, happiness and success. We have the power within our mind to change our reality. Our perception is our reality. What do you perceive about you? If you want to change your reality – then change your perception.

Some of you may be happy with the way your lives are going. That is wonderful! Think about why that is. What do you find about your life that gives you joy? Is it your family? How about your health? Could it be your work? Those avenues in your life that create a foundation for you to thrive such as an Oprah Winfrey are those anchors that you can hold on to when waves of disappointment, frustration or trial occur. When you look at others who you think have uncovered their full potential you may believe that they have it made and don’t experience any problems.

One thing that I continue to learn as each year passes is that we all have our own individual set of problems and issues. We have a choice, whether or not to let them define us or to greet them head on.

A very dear friend was telling me about an exercise that he recently went through. He mapped out where and what he wanted to be not in five years from now but started from the potential end of his life. He started at age 100 then worked back to the age he is now. This exercise was powerful because it puts into focus what is most important. Whether or not we achieve what we lay out is not as important as the process itself.

We may have a tendency to let life just happen to us rather than taking life by the steering wheel and driving the journey to where we want to go.

This potential is in each one of us.

You are each incredible individuals. You are destined for greatness. You each have a mission that only you can perform.

Any time you forget about how incredible you are – think about your why, think about your legacy; then go and do the impossible. For your journey is the possible just waiting to happen.