Blind spots switch the light to dim, if not dark.

Blockages keep us stuck.

Mental hinderances prevent us from moving forward.

Opening the floodgates to our inner potential isn’t easy, especially if we don’t even know what our potential is. We may have a vague idea, but we have no idea what we are capable of until we are tested.

For those of you with test anxiety, know that you are not alone. I used to call my mom every time I had an exam. She’d ask the same question every time:

“Did you study?”

“Of course!” I’d say, not without some indignance.

“Good. Then all you have to do is show up.”

Then I would laugh at myself and know she was right. I had done everything I could. The rest was up to time.

The other day, dish towel in hand, I found myself repeating those words to my fear-filled son who had just one more exam to complete before finishing the seventh grade. He had not only studied, he had also gotten a lot of tutoring to ensure he understood the material.

He did. In fact, he got his best grade of the school year on that test.

What was the difference? He had been able to unlock the door that had been kept shut to him for so long. His tutor helped him understand math in a way his teacher could not.

He had shed the light on that blind spot.

He had removed those blockages.

He had lifted the mental hinderance of thinking he couldn’t to entertaining the idea that maybe he could.

Sometimes we are so close to the answers, which ultimately reside within, and yet we feel so far from them.

They are there. The secret is finding the right key to fit the lock to our own inner wisdom.