“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” Lao Tzu

In general we tend to have a strong perception of who we are – our personality type, strengths, weaknesses, skills and limitations. We carry our self-perception with us day to day and our choices, instead of exploring or challenging them, usually reinforce the beliefs we already have about ourselves. Of course, many of our observations about ourselves are accurate and are based upon valid experience. However, many of them are based upon old information that is no longer valid and limited experiences.

We are changing all of the time whether we are conscious of it or not. Even our long held beliefs and habits, though not seeming to change, are changing in that they may be growing stronger. Just as a large and strong elephant can be tethered to a stake in the ground by a single rope or chain, we can be restrained by our own beliefs about ourselves. The reason elephants can be restrained in this way is because they were chained up as babies.The baby elephants learned that they were not strong enough and that it was painful to keep trying to free themselves. As the elephants grow and become strong enough, they believe that they are not able to free themselves and no longer try.

Just as with the elephants, many of our current perceptions are outdated, unexplored and can stem from our childhood.  It is up to us to continue to tug on, and test, the chains of our self-perception. If we do, we will continue to find many untapped abilities and potentials within us. If we don’t, we run the risk of unconsciously tightening the chains that can limit us from becoming the person we want to be.

The above is a an excerpt from one the daily emails sent to the members of the Mindful Life Community. I invite you to explore our community and consider joining.

Copyright © 2016 John Bruna. All rights reserved.