When you state limitation, you create limitation

§ December 26th, 2011 § Filed under Thoughts § Tagged creating your own experience, new year's resolutions, positive speech, positive thinking Leave a Comment- Comments Off

photo by Caren Parmelee

This is what I’ve been thinking about lately: how common it is to hear people creating, accepting, validating, normalizing, and choosing limitation– and how easy it is to do that yourself.

Think about it. When speaking with others, how often do you witness exchanges like this?

Person One: A friend of mine just started his own company, and he’s doing great!

Person Two: That can be so difficult. I bet he’s got no time to himself anymore. It can take years for a small business to make a profit. How does his wife feel about the risk?

I don’t know about you, but I hear exchanges like this a lot. Or get responses like this when I’m sharing joy & good. Or– and this is the worst– catch myself doing it!

Well, I’ve decided that if I have a New Year’s Resolution beyond state my worth/make more money, it’s this: no more free passes on stating limitations, because I believe that those statements CREATE limitations.

In the past, when I’ve heard someone lay down the kind of negative thinking I outlined above, I have tended to go silent and just mentally stand my ground for good. From now on, I’m speaking up. I want to be an agent for good in my own life and in the lives of those I touch, and I think finding a loving way to bring us all up verbally is a good step in that direction.

Last night, I was talking to my mom, and she gave me a terrific opportunity to take this kind of stand. She was so tired, curled up on her bed, and I was saying goodnight to her at the end of a lovely Christmas. She laid out her work schedule for me in a tone that suggested that the prospect of putting in all those hours was weighing on her heavily. I said, “I bet it will be easy and fun, and you’ll be so happy to get that paycheck at the end of it all!”

She thought for a moment and said, “Ok.”

That’s it. That’s what I’m working on from now on. You tell me someone started a company, and I want to say,: “That’s awesome! Good for that guy for taking his life into his own hands!”