We humans experience two kinds of limitations: physical and mental.
I had a remarkable conversation with a woman about physicallimitations. Nancy was a sufferer of M.S. She could no longer walk andspent her waking hours in a wheelchair.
"I'm not 'confined' to a wheelchair," she insisted one day. "Itdoesn't confine me. It sets me free."
She asked me, "Do you want to know my reason for living?"
"What is it?" I wondered.
"To liberate people. To set them free. Before I got my wheelchair,"she explained, "I had trouble getting around. Now I can go places!However I can free people, I want to do it."
"People speak of being 'shut in,'" she continued. "People who areconfined to a room or a house or a bed are not 'shut in.' They're'shut out' - shut out of activities and shut out of people's lives. Somy mission is to liberate people, to set them free, however I can."
Because of her disease, Nancy now helps people find ways ofgainingmore physical freedom. But we humans suffer from other kinds oflimitations, too. We need liberation from enslaving beliefs andattitudes.
"Almost everybody walks around with a vast burden of imaginarylimitations inside his head," says J. H. Brennan. "While the burdenremains, personal success is as difficult to achieve as the conquestof Everest with a sack of rocks tied to your back."
What burden of limiting beliefs and attitudes are you walkingaroundwith? Do you ever say, "I can't do that" or "I can't change this orthat"? Do you ever think that you'll never be able to pursue yourpassion or achieve a cherished dream? Do you believe that other peoplecan experience the good things of life, or simply be happy, but notyou? These patterns of thinking are as much of a burden as a sackofrocks tied to your back.
Listen to these words from Darwin P. Kingsley: "You have powers younever dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do.There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations ofyour own mind."
Okay, certain limitations are a part of life. You may be more able tosee those that are physical. After all, "stinkin' thinkin'" can be
easily hidden. But, as Kingsley says, when you get rid of limiting
attitudes and beliefs, those rocks tied to your back, you'll discover
powers you never dreamed of. You'll do things you never thought youcould do! And you'll be truly free.
Besides an unhealthy mental outlook, what have you got to lose?