Human potential is effectively infinite.

Yeah, there are certain areas in which we are approaching the limits of what individuals can do. There's only so fast that a man can run a mile, right? But we thought that nobody could run the mile in under four minutes until Roger Bannister did it in 1954. So what do we know.

Areas other than physical performance might be harder to measure. How do we know what we're capable of?

The old-school arcade games were light on plot compared to the home console games of today.

Mostly, as you progressed in a game, the bad guys did the same basic thing, but faster or more. There were more bullets, more aliens, or the ghosts were more bloodthirsty. The blocks fell at an unmanageable pace.

This is a convenient way to make the most of the available RAM. It's also not so different from real life. We do tend to confront the same problems and challenges over and over, but at a higher difficulty setting each time.

In Paul Zollo's Songwriters on Songwriting, Jackson Browne talks about a moment in a concert in which he began playing a new song. The audience believed that they were hearing a familiar favorite because it apparently sounded so much like another song of his. They started applauding and cheering in appreciation, which was probably a little awkward when the song turned out to be something else.

I think of this often in my own work and creative pursuits, from songwriting to blogging to teaching.

Why have some of the most wealthy and famous people in history been so miserable?

It's possible that they spent their lives chasing money or fame when what they really wanted was love, joy, freedom, or peace.

Maybe they wanted to be respected for their art, but all they got was admiration for their beauty. Life is rough, isn't it?