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Monday, March 19, 2012

Breaking Your Chains

A ball and chain were put on a prisoner to inhibit the individual's movement.  The weight of the ball would be heavy enough that whoever was chained to that would find that running with the ball would be an impossible feat.  The only way the prisoner would be able to escape is if they were to break the chains that kept the ball.

In the same way, we all have our own balls and chains.  However, the thing that weighs us down is something close to us.  It is ourselves.  WE are the weight that limits our movements towards our goal.  So how do we break the chains?  How are we to break our limits?  In order to break something, we need to know what it is.  Can you break a chain with a pair of scissors?  Knowing exactly what binds you allows you to know how to break it.  As we are the limit that inhibits our movements towards our goals, we need to know how it works.  First of all, we do things based off of our own knowledge and experience, basing possibilities off of our realm of understanding.

Today, I ran out 11.61 miles in 1:46:17 (a 9:16 min/mile average), ate at Subway, drank a couple cups of water, and then ran back 12.72 miles in 2:03:11 (a 9:42 min/mile average).  To some people, they look at this and think to themselves, "There's no way that I could ever do that."  Unless they have bad knees, no knees, or a real reason that they say that they can't do it, I believe that they can.  Maybe not right away, but taking the right steps, they CAN get to that point.  We need to understand that we are bound by what we know, and knowledge limits us.  Opening our minds can in fact allow us to go beyond what we think may be possible.

We have a flawed version of the definition of impossible embedded in our head.  We see where we are, and what direction we are going, and we see that there are things we can do and can't do, and we see that there are just some things that can't be help because... it's life.

This is far from true.  Choices exist.  Our life is the sum of our choices.  Every choice you or someone else makes makes life roll the way it does.  The one that has the most control over your own life is the individual making your choices... you.  We are our own limit and the way we break our limits is to realize that we can open our minds.  Opening your mind allows the impossible to become a possibility... and eventually into reality.  I wasn't able to just up and run my marathon in under three hours.  I took the proper steps to be able to reach that point.  Life is a journey, so let's all enjoy it and make choices that bring us closer to our goals, however impossible they may feel.

Break your chains.

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Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.  Impossible is not a fact.  It's opinion.  Impossible is not a declaration.  It's a dare.  Impossible is potential.  Impossible is temporary.  Impossible is nothing.

-John Maxwell, from The Difference Maker

2 comments:

  1. Dude, this is really encouraging. To know that I am the chain that is holding myself down makes real sense to me. Arigatou gozaimasu!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Glad it's encouraging. Let's break the chain!

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