The ability to perceive, and to look deeper than mere appearances is a truly wonderful gift. Deeper insight is in the very constitution of some from birth. For others, it can at best be a gained skill. While for the former it comes effortlessly and naturally, for the latter it comes as a labored, deliberate activity. With time, it may get easier, but seeing potential as naturally having an eye for it, will always be easier for the born observer.
The vision of a lion 
The attention of a lady Scanning through the heights 
Pleasure of comprehension
How the “eye” sees for potential?
The “eye” sees by the mind. The eye of the mind sees the world, understands it. With influence from the heart’s desires, fears, and affections the understanding takes on many shades and colors. It is in this complex seeing that one must either be trained or be naturally inclined, to see the potential.
For the most part, a lot of humans simply stop at observing the appearance. There is nothing wrong with seeing the physical appearance. We live in a beautiful world. Besides, the desire to create and relish beauty is a fine attribute of the developed individual. This deeper sight – insight – as a part of perception usually not only from admiration but from the curiosity of a person. When one is inclined to ask, how or why something is beautiful, one is engaging in meaningful analysis.
“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”
— John Lennon
The asking of questions with an eye for potential
Understanding comes alongside curiosity, if not after it. Without curiosity, there is little to no desire for looking beyond the obvious. So, while the obvious is beautiful, curiosity makes one ask why or how it is so. One might even be inclined to ask if a thing that appears beautiful is truly so or not! The optimist, even if he does see a reason to doubt, will succeed in seeing beauty on the surface and especially beneath.
It is good to remember that the asking of questions and expression of doubt need not be disrespectful, nor be considered as such. So, we are once again reminded of the need for sincerity. Curiosity needn’t be wasted insincerely. In fact, if one is truly attuned to searching potential – having an eye for potential – it is then, very difficult to be insincere. One is truly looking, and such looking is optimistic. The positive frame of mind does not permit for insincerity; it will yield constructive results.
Clearer perception, bright outlook to behold the potential
A lot of perception is simply projection. One can say, “a lot” because in the physical realms there are evident realities beheld almost identically by a multitude. A thousand people standing in front of the Pyramids of Egypt, or the Taj Mahal see the same buildings. How one feels about those buildings is then, a secondary concern. Primarily we can all see the same structures.
The same is also true of perceiving oneself and other humans, but of course, of a far greater significance. Just stop and think of what a complicated process takes place when two experienced, intelligent people are in conversation. So much could be concealed in so few a word. Add to that the gestures, the temperature of the surroundings, the immediate environment, etc. Isn’t it just so much more than beholding even the wonders of human construction… if we think about it?
Questions and perceptions
Questions can serve to clear the perceptions. Whether those are questions one keeps thinking over within oneself or in consultation with others, the resulting answers can mean one less doubt, one less fear, or one more discovery. Discovering the potential of oneself and of a fellow human can be one of the great finds in our lives. Yes, especially when one looks upon oneself with optimism, it can truly be a liberating find! From there, a person can set out toward the greatness that was simply locked within. The self-belief, the will to try, the will to carry-on are most powerfully seen in the actions of such individuals.
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
— William Faulkner
From perceptions to actions
The purpose of thinking should be to clear the perceptions and to build them up. Yes, building one’s perceptions is possible. When one creates a story, one is building those perceptions. When one is inferring from observations, one is also building those perceptions. Now, how one goes about his attempts and what leads a person in those attempts will obviously differ. However, all through this process, one is wise to remain curious, to remain optimistic. It is also wise to remain so as to understand the results as one keeps exploring with an eye for potential.
One who is dedicated, sincere, can easily go too far in one’s actions. Therefore, in accordance with the context of one’s environment, needs, and wants one also needs to understand where to lead that potential. It is to be recognized, an individual must remain believing of this… that he is going somewhere. This discovering, these actions, there is a purpose behind all of this. Somewhere in the vast collective, each individual who remains on course is going toward some end. It may not be clear at the outset or even well along the way, but this positive belief must remain. This is what is giving meaning to all his individual actions.
Believer
When actions have followed perceptions, starting with an eye for potential, there are bound to be results. It is these results that make a believer out of a person. For until something is attempted, until that something is proven, it has remained outside of evident truth. However, when such results are found in personal and collective efforts, then belief is justified. Justified belief vindicates the believer.
The challenge of our time to the one with an eye for potential
In our time, the challenge is to the belief of the believer. So, it is understandable that the attempt to be optimistic is met by challenges and a lot of justifiable criticism. However, in the face of such outstanding human achievement in nearly every field, one looks to, we must keep an eye on those who have persisted. How have they kept going? What has kept them going? Long after they saw their potential or the potential in others, what brought prosperity to their beliefs?
It would be wise to note something here: Each one of those individuals believed in the value of work itself. It cannot be that their results were promised to them, or they knew beforehand they would succeed in a precedented way. Even if that were the case, still, it had to be the actions that took them to their destination.
So, one ought to keep going. That’s the message. For all the potential in the world, one may have, but it is the action that will bring it to completion.