Posted by Jason Fonceca on Aug 13, 2008 in Awareness, Confidence, Life Coaching, Personal Growth | 0 comments
Lately my awareness of purpose has been getting stronger and stronger, and I’ve been doing a ton of work behind the scenes, in order to broaden the world’s creativity. It’s gonna rock.
Broadening the world’s creativity means pushing boundaries and limits.
Every time we impose a limit or label on ourselves, things such as “I’m just not very athletic” or “I hate all dogs” or “I only like big boobs, period” (yes, a substantial rack can certainly be extra-ordinarily appealing for many but its quite a limiting to restrict someone to only that outcome) — it sounds like these things can either be defining characteristics of who we really are (and they can), more often though, they’re tricks and illusions of our uncontrolled thoughts minds, which end up holding us back in life.
A long, long time ago dated a girl who stead-fastly considered herself to be a terrible communicator, and I could feel that particular belief came from her family-life, friends, and upbringing. At the time I foolishly thought my personal communication strengths could more than make up for it, but I was dreaming — you can never decide an outcome for another person against their own personal preference, and I just became frustrated trying. During the time that this was going on, interestingly, I limited myself to a ‘gentle, respectful, nice guy who can tolerate anything‘ (read: a pussy,) when I knew deep down I was a powerful creator, a leader, and a dominant personality who didn’t feel good encouraging in his life fearful people who consistently choose to settle for their own perceived limits. I was doing just that though, by accepting my own.
When I finally awoke to these things about her, and subsequently myself, I immediately made the choice to change my limits. I acknowledged my own value and the characteristics that keep me passionate and alive. I know who I am and what I want and how I wish to create myself in this moment and the next (and there is no ‘I’ but that’s merely semantics).
If there are self-imposed limits, that deep down we’d like to change, steps can be taken. The key step is to Get Happy and Do What Feels Good ASAP.
If you wanted to be more athletic for example, a small step might be to just go watch some light-hearted sports. Or maybe you decide to go for a walk a few times for a few weeks. These steps are not difficult for most people, a good portion of people claiming to be ‘non-athletics’ are capable of, and actually enjoy, walking, and you might be surprised how much your energy level, metabolism and desire for activity increase.
Let’s try another example: “I don’t like dogs” you might claim. But now, would it kill you to ask after, seek out, or at least keep an eye open in life for the smallest, cutest, nicest dog around, even on TV — perhaps a completely new-born dog with no teeth… and see how you feel about *that* particular dog? Not so bad, I’d imagine. Then your limit has grown to: “I hate dogs, except those adorably hairless, harmless, and innocent newborn ones.”
and that’s a great step, eventually you can get to appreciating toddler dogs, and so on.
The last one in our list had to do with breasts (mm, breasts…). You could try an affirmation, a very simple start. "Everyone is beautiful", by acknowledging this you’ve already opened up the possibility for some human being somewhere to be attractive to you who may otherwise not have been.
It’s understandable that everyone has preferences, but it might be rewarding to acknowledge where our preferences come from. Are they from childhood scars, traumas or misguided attachments? Is their source the media and our often blindly accepted society-driven beliefs? Or is a particular preference of ours an individual defining characteristic of our true selves, or a combination of all? If we have an awareness of where they come from, we can better decide if a particular preference suits us, and we can break our own established limits.
Well, how can I tell if something is a self-imposed limit or part of my purpose in life? you may be thinking. You can tell if a trait feels good to you. Does it help you enjoy who you are and help you shine in life, creating value for others? Are you able to do well because of the trait, and help others grow through it? These are questions to ask yourself, to meditate on or pray about or research or take a class on, or however you find you learn the best.
If even that proves difficult, then it is very likely you have not yet discovered your true purpose.
I know this brief ramble on limits has touched at least one of you, and for that, I am grateful.
Love to hear how you feel about this in the comments!