So there I was reading to my daughters at bedtime when all of a sudden the words jumped out of the page and stood ten feet tall:
“You can’t possibly do anything if you think you can’t. But you can do impossible things sometimes if you think you can”
Enid Blyton, Malory Towers
We stopped for a few moments to consider the wisdom and power that these few words can have on your life – even if you are only 7 and 9! Yes, even at a young age. So how about if you’re 47 or 89 or even more?
The beliefs that you hold – and however they have been shaped – hold more power over you than perhaps you ever imagined before now. Are you afraid of spiders? Where does that come from? If you grew up in the UK were you ever bitten by one? Did you see somebody eaten alive by one? Yet you might be one of those people who shriek at the sight of a tiny money spider. It’s irrational isn’t it? But for some it is their reality and the way that they live their lives.
What about your hobbies or holidays? Have you ever wanted to climb a mountain or swim in a crystal clear lake or fly somewhere different and exciting without booking your hotel in advance?
How about your life and career? Were you somehow conditioned during your childhood that “people like us don’t go to university”? That “people like us don’t do jobs like that”. What is it that you have accepted as true for you that stops you from going back to evening classes to improve your Maths or English so that you get the job of your dreams? That keeps you from sharing your opinion in a meeting at work? That keeps you from sitting down on the floor and playing like a child with your kids?
You, me and everybody – we all have these things surrounding us and keeping an invisible chain around us. Stopping us from doing what we really want to do, say or become. Yet, if we start to believe that the impossible is possible then we just might start to see progress and change in our lives and the lives around us.
Think about it. Look around you. Who did you grow up with, who went to the same school as you, who fell out of the same trees as you, who is doing something that you wish you were doing? Someone else who despite their health problems is living a more active and fulfilling life than you? Somebody who has the job that you want to be doing? What is it that is so different about them to you?
Yes, they may be doing things that you couldn’t do without studying hard at college or university and I’m not saying that if I believe I can be a brain surgeon I could crack open somebody’s skull tomorrow and perform life saving surgery. I’m not saying that you should head off to the Alps with a jacket and sandals to climb the Matterhorn next Saturday or that you dive into a lake tonight if you can’t already swim. There may be some preparation to do but believing first that I can do these things is the start of a journey that might just fulfil your dreams and change your life (and even if it changes your life by just a little bit)!
And if you are afraid of spiders, how would it be if you started to believe that they really are beautiful creatures that tickle your hands and are petrified of you!
So my challenge to you today, now, wherever you are and in whatever situation you find yourself:
- What are you believing to be true for you that is holding you back from doing something that you really want to do?
- What would you rather believe about yourself? What difference, even a tiny difference, would that make to the way you feel about yourself, to what you do next, to the people around you?
- Take action NOW and do something that takes you just one step further towards living in that new reality (for example decide now that you will share your opinion at this afternoon’s meeting rather than keep quiet; book yourself onto that training course; rewrite your CV; book your flights; stand and watch that spider)
- Start looking for the evidence that confirms that your new belief is true and start living in that new reality today
…and let me know how you get on!
Live and love your life!!!