Reservoirs of life

On page 70 of Stephen Covey’s The 8th Habit, I found a quote from Willam James that I’ve swiftly become a fan of:

Most people live in a very restricted circle of their potential being. We all have reservoirs of energy and genius to draw upon of which we do not dream.

In trying to find the source for this, I found that Covey had abridged the quotation. I also found that hardly anyone knows where the quote is found — one source said The Varieties of Religious Experience (wrong), another said it was from 1899, which would have been Talks to Teachers (also wrong), and finally, through Wikiquote, I discovered that it’s actually in a May 6, 1906 letter to W. Lutoslawski, published as part of the second volume of The Letters of William James, page 253 (with the last sentence coming two pages later). Here’s the full quote:

I have no doubt whatever that most people live, whether physically, intellectually, or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using only his little finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed…. We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not dream.

Interestingly, Covey alters the last sentence (which is on page 255) to says “reservoirs of energy and genius” instead of “reservoirs of life.”

At any rate, I certainly agree with James, and I’m mainly wondering how to tap into those reservoirs and juice this life for all it’s worth. ;)

So, Ben, you want to “tap into those reservoirs and juice this life for all it’s worth” LOL… just surrender your will to the Lord then pray for humility and let the games begin.

I think I like “reservoirs of life” better than “reservoirs of energy and genius.” But anyway, thanks for that neat quote~I really like it! I think that is true. We don’t really know what we are capable of until we are pushed past where we thought we could handle. I think we (in general) live below our privileges sometimes.

Janet: Are you implying that I lack humility? :P

Holly: It’s a good quote. And Brigham Young agrees with you. :)

What I’m saying here is that I have actually “tapped into those reservoirs and juiced this life for all it’s worth.” It all started when I prayed for humility.

You asked how to tap the reservoirs so I told you. I was being nice.

Actually Ben, I really liked this post and used the quote in my weekly article for my company’s ezine. Your posts prove most valuable in that regard. My article was about Year End Reviews and Life In Review. I talked about living up to our potential. Anyway thanks for another great idea. You’ll make a great librarian.

Incidentally, I checked out the link to Liz’ post and really enjoyed her blog. It caused me to modify my about page just a little.

I was joking. :) I’m glad you’ve found some use for the posts, though, and I’m also glad that you’re enjoying Liz’s blog.