Very awake Graham, very. Thanks for sharing your view.
It reflects of what I think Aikido means: the ability to do the right thing at the right time (harmony eastern style).
So what we are going for is not to have power, nor to have ability, but be able to
employ that ability.
Like you said, the potential (i.e. energy) is already inside, but we cannot employ/use it properly when we want to.
Polishing the mind, is not it great?