Tag Archives: limits

22

Finding Your Limits

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Limit- a point or level beyond which something does not or may not extend or pass.

LimitWhat can you do in life? What can you achieve? What is the absolute limit of your potential? These questions we are asking ourselves at least subconsciously from our earliest moments of life. We perceive the answers that build this tapestry of our belief.

Woven into the fabric of this belief are our perceptions of how smart we are, how creative or how talented in a particular area we think we are. Mixed in there are all our perceived limits in every area of our lives. It is essential to realize that these images are just an illusion. We are only limited by our thinking and the beliefs we choose to give power to. Most people happily accept their limits and live their lives, never stretching beyond them. I urge you to look at what is limiting you in your life and make a conscious choice to see what lies beyond them. It begins with an awareness of your thoughts, words, and actions regarding your perception of your limits.

The Box

From the moment we are born, other people work to put us into a box. People who care about you can be just as limiting as those who dislike you. Crutches are given to us all the time, and we willingly accept them. They come in the form of excuses, “They are just not creative.” or “Nobody in this family is good at math.” or “That is a nice talent, but can you make a living at it?”  They built the box around us slowly, and most can’t see the world outside of it.

Other people have created this box of limits for us. We accepted their trusted opinion because they were our relatives, friends, teachers, community leaders, etc. The drive to be taken allows for this box of limits to grow all around you, and soon you believe there is no possibility outside of this prison that has been constructed all around you. But you are not limited.

To escape the box takes a change of thought. Become aware of the talents you possess and fabulous things you can achieve in all areas of your life. The limit of those accomplishments is in your mind and the actions you dare to take. Don’t let the thoughts of others and society limit you and what you try to do. There is more to life than working a job for hours to earn money. Thinking, talking, laughing, sharing, growing, improving, creating, and many other things are the actual value that life provides you. Get out of the box; don’t let people limit you. Find your actual boundaries and be the person you were born to be.

Challenges and Opportunities

Every challenge we face brings with it an opportunity. Many will look at a situation and see the limits that it gets, and the rare few will look at the circumstances life throws their way and see the potential for growth, success, and happiness that exists. The mindset of looking past the limits of your events is what separates those who are aware and those asleep at the wheel. It is always up to us to explore situations to see what is possible.

Of course, you can let circumstances defeat you and do nothing. But I urge you not to sit idly and complain about what is happening. Complaining builds a victim mentality, which will limit you in all areas of your life. See the opportunity, take action, and see what develops for you. Life is not an easy road because the easy way never produced anything worthwhile. Only through exercise can a body be designed. The same is true in all areas of life. Don’t let the perceived limitations of your circumstances stop you. You are the only person who can decide where your limits lie.

You Limit You

That leads us to the natural choice involved in our limits—your mind and what you choose to accept. Look at the box around your life. Is it stopping you from earning the money you want, having the relationship you want, or just enjoying life the way you want? Most people live their entire life and never contemplate in any natural way the limits they face, where they came from, and what they can do about them.

Bad childhoods, being miserable, being unintelligent, not having an opportunity, not knowing the right people, any physical restriction, or any other excuse you can think of are just that, excuses. We are only as healthy and prosperous as the weakest excuse we will accept. This limits people in all areas of life. Don’t limit yourself! Find the things you like to do and do them with passion and joy.

Focus your conscious thought on your limits today and why you see them the way you do. Where did they come from? What is beyond them? What actions can get you past them? Do this in thoughts, words, and efforts to reach beyond the limits you accept about yourself.

“Don’t limit a child to your learning, for he was born in another time.”~Rabindranath Tagore

“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”~ Michael Phelps

You are in the driver’s seat of your life. Nobody else has the power to erase your dreams unless you let them. Our limits are never created outside of ourselves but on the inside in the world of our thoughts.

 

 

21

Your Elephant Rope

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What is holding you back?

Let me tell you a story about the power of your beliefs. One of the most powerful creatures in the world is being hindered by a barrier that couldn’t control me. Elephants in captivity are restrained using a simple rope tied to a small stake in the ground. This belief happens because when they are young, the elephant is connected to the same rope around its leg, and no matter how hard it tries, it can’t escape.  Eventually, the elephant gives up and accepts the belief the cable can’t be broken.  This belief sticks with them as they grow, and they never try to escape as they could if they just tried.   It makes you wonder what types of ideas you might have accepted as accurate over the years. What is limiting you today, which you could break free from if you just tried today?  Have you received an elephant rope in your life? Let’s look at some of the elephant ropes out there.

Intelligence

All people can learn. Once you set your mind on becoming something or learning about a new idea, there is nothing that can stop us.  But, too often, people allow experiences from their youth to control their abilities as adults.  A bad elementary school math class experience leads to a lifelong idea that a person is “no good at math.” Or perhaps, you were laughed at for awkwardly drawing a picture.  This experience makes you adopt the idea that you are not artistic or, worse yet, not creative.  Whatever experience you had in your education, making you feel unintelligent or untalented, is time to reexamine it and find your fundamental truth.

Too often, we get painful scars as young people, which we carry through life. Like elephant ropes restraining us from being the best, we can be at something.  If you want to know what your beliefs are, think about doing what limits you. The answers your mind gives you are your beliefs, limiting, supportive, or otherwise.  You are smart enough to solve problems, learn new information, and become whatever you want to be. Just break your elephant rope and do it.

Age

If you think you are too young or too old to do something, then your elephant rope is age.  You get a lifetime to experience the world, learn, plan, try, experiment, grow, succeed, and sometimes fail.  The only person who can allow your age to limit you is you.  Age is just a number and will restrict you as much as you let it or believe it will.  Use all of your years to live, not to accept the limits of your mind.

There is a collective story about age the world seems to accept as gospel, that we should all aspire to get old and retire on our lives to recede into the waiting arms of death gently.  I am never retiring or losing my general purpose in life because through ambition, I am living and finding meaning in living.  The truth, as I see it is, you are never too young or too old to do anything. It is only the elephant rope of perception that limits you.  If you want to try something, give it a shot and see what happens.

Can’t Make Money Doing That

One of the elephant ropes holding us back is that we have found our passion, but people will quickly point out that you will never be able to make money at it.  The idea is putting a monetary value on something that determines how worthwhile it is. Look inside of yourself and see how you feel when you’re creating that.  Photography, drawing, painting, writing, running, gardening, playing corn hole, or whatever it is that makes you feel alive.

The wise person follows their intuition towards the activity that makes them feel alive and away from the thought of how much money you can make from doing this.  The money will take care of itself when things you are creating from authenticity.   You shouldn’t plan on making money and what intelligent financial decisions you should make. But instead, don’t let the fact that you lack the final vision of financial reward stop you. It will come to you as you follow the path.  How many people never start down the road? Leaving the wealth, joy, and success they dream of never materialized.  Doing what your heart guides you toward will never steer you wrong.

LET GO OF LIMITS

Whatever thoughts you have in your mind, which are holding you back.  Are they absolute limits, or are only your elephant ropes holding you back, keeping you from being great at what you want? Maybe the roadblock in front of you is something that limits you because of your beliefs about it. Change those beliefs and see what you can do.  Life has a way of conditioning you to accept limits, and the only way to change them is to decide to do things differently.

“You begin to fly when you let go of self-limiting beliefs and allow your mind and aspirations to rise to greater heights.” ―Brian Tracy.

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” ―Mary Kay Ash.

“Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.” —Mignon McLaughlin.

“Every person takes the limits of their field of vision for the limits of the world.” —Arthur Schopenhauer.