When we think back to when we were little kids, we never knew what limitations were.
In fact, to little kids the very idea of a limitation is absurd. Our imaginations knew no boundaries and we lived in a world of pure possibility.
You could be a superhero, be invisible, fly, or travel in time like Doctor Who.
As such, life was full of joy, curiosity, and wonder.
And who doesn’t want more of these in their lives?
What is an impossible goal for you?
Think of a goal or outcome you want or the kind of life you would love to be leading and yet, right now, it seems impossible.
Maybe it is to start your own business? Totally re-invent your work? Write a book? Take a year off? Or get into the best shape of your life?
The question is… what stops you?
Some years ago, I was fortunate to learn from Dr Christina Hall, one of the world’s foremost trainers of Neuro-linguistic programming.
Chris always used to say that the most dangerous word in the English language is ‘know’.
Why would she say this?
Because as soon as we think we know something we stop being curious and we revert to our conditioning…
* I know what I am capable of
* I know what my limits are
* I know what is possible for me
* I know what is impossible for me
* I know what other people are thinking
Knowing takes you out of that space where anything is possible and into a world of limitations.
When we think we know something we stop listening. Another things Chris used to say was, “Knowing closes the door to further exploration.”
But who is actually doing all this knowing?
We might be tempted to say, “It’s me”. But there is a problem with this.
“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent, of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself – and there isn’t one.” Wei Wu Wei
The “me” or “I” we so often refer to is a just a bunch of repeated thoughts (read this fascinating article published by Big Think). And yet we will go on believing them until we begin to question if they are as true as we thought they were.
Allow your mind to be free
Last weekend I co-hosted a two day retreat we called ‘Freedom of mind‘. And one of the questions we asked people at the beginning was, ‘What would be a miracle for you?’
A miracle is something outside and beyond what we think we know.
Over the weekend one of the things we kept pointing to is a fundamental truth:
Your mind has an in-built design for success
In other words, you have the creative intelligence of the entire universe at your disposal.
This may, at first, seem like an inflated claim and yet is it?
What I have come to see is that the human mind has the innate and unlimited capacity for new thoughts.
Yet one of the most reliable ways to block this capacity is to live within the known. We can either keep living from old, oft repeated, yet limiting thoughts or live in the unknown where we are happy to wait with anticipation for the next inspiring thought.
Dive back in and play the game of life
When you are inspired to go in a certain direction you do not need to know all the answers. You do not need to be concerned with anything other than the next tiny step.
Just begin.
P.S. If greater freedom of mind is of interest to you we will be running the ‘Freedom of Mind’ programme again. To make sure you are among the first to hear about it drop me a line at john@clientcentredadvisers.com to express your interest. You are not committing yourself by doing this, just making sure you don’t miss out on future announcements.
