Limitations are yours to keep
“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.” ~Arthur Schopenhauer
Every Monday morning I receive an email from someone I’ve never met. His name is Darren Zwiers and he writes a weekly blog called Monday Morning Inspiration. I like his thinking and his focus on bringing out the best at the start of a new week.
Last week I received his email and it was about limitations. The story he shared is about a bumble bee. What I found out is that the humble bumble is apparently aerodynamically unable to fly and they do anyway. The apparent explanation is fascinating.
Have you ever been told you could not do something and then proved the messenger wrong by doing it anyway? People test these boundaries all the time. Starting in the playground as children and then accepting a dare as a teenager. Finding yourself injured or being labelled unintelligent, people step up to these challenges everyday and prove something.
What is the proof? To me it’s two things. Firstly it’s limitations and secondly it’s ownership.
Limitations are defined as shortcomings or defects. Ownership is defined as the act, state or right of possessing something. What are limitations and ownership really? They are a decision to operate within a boundary condition and to accept that condition as being the full extent of what is possible in that area of your life. Owning limitations can be helpful in keeping us safe and protected. They can also result in feelings of regret and a lack of meaningful fulfilment in your life.
In circumstances where limitations lead to frustration, apathy and regret finding ways to move past them can be rewarding and life changing. The result can be an renewed enthusiasm for life, breaking the boundaries of restrictions, spending time with people who inspire and motivate you and having a sense of self achievement in finding out more of who you really are.
Understanding the human mind dates back to Christian Wolff who first coined the concept and term psychology in the early 1700’s. Later in the 1700’s Immanuel Kant suggested that rational mental processes must be activated by mental content derived from experience. Much more recently in the development of NLP by Bandler and Grinder in the 1970’s found that neurological patterns were an essential factor in accessing the limitations that may be imposed by an individual on their own views of the world.
So if you wanted to, how could you elevate your experience from limitations? One way to do this is to find out what your goals are and then ascertain if you have any limiting beliefs that may be preventing you from achieving what it is that you would like in your life. NLP and Matrix Therapeutic Coaching provide great avenues to explore these aspects of your own self development and find what it is that you might need to achieve your own goals.
What if you have some really, really significant limitations perhaps health or physical that are really challenging? What you may want to consider is that the road from here to your destination is not straight, it’s likely to have twists and many turns. It will possibly have unexpected setbacks and wins. You may even find that you achieve what it is that you are seeking by some complete weird turn of events. Asking, “how could I” instead of, “why can’t I” is perhaps the best check you could ever use.
Darren Zwiers explanation for bumble bee flight with aerodynamic disadvantage is that the bee knows not that he cannot fly. Have you ever asked a blind person what’s it like to be blind compared to seeing? It’s probably one of the craziest questions you could ever ask. How do you know any different to what your normal is? To a blind person who functions in life and can do what a seeing man does, blindness is just a state, it’s not a limitation.
Madelaine Cohen Author
Lipstick Learning is an initiative of Sydney based business leader, Certified NLP Trainer (ABNLP), entrepreneur and Master NLP Practitioner Madelaine Cohen. Sharing information and joining forces with people who choose to lead. Madelaine has more than two decades of inspiration from her businesses in consumer products, sports marketing, executive coaching and healthcare. She takes a leading role in mentoring executives and training business leadership in large and small enterprises. Why? Inspire people to lead and together we can create lifetimes of health and happiness. To find out how you can lead with even more authenticity and ease, contact Madelaine through Lipstick Learning. Madelaine welcomes connection & networking so if you have something to ask or share, go for it.