Our Limits are Self-Imposed

Call it coincidence, serendipity or Law of Attraction, but the more I delve into the world of manifestation and limitlessness, the more I see wonderful images like this one reinforcing that the limits we set are self-imposed. Did you know that almost all of our beliefs, fears and views were programmed into our brains before we were 5 years old? Yup, we downloaded everything we needed to survive in this world from our parents and carers in those first 5 years – the good and not so good!

I know this is true because for many years I was a worrier. I worried about being late, I worried about being early and I generally made myself sick worrying about almost everything. I had no idea where all of this worry came from until I was old enough to really look at my Dad. He worries about everything too. If he had to buy some bread that cost $1.00 he would take $10.00 just in case it had gone up (no kidding) and he had this kind of nervous energy all the time. As I got older and eventually moved out on my own I realised that the worrying wasn’t actually my belief, but programming I had learned from my Dad. Over time the constant worrying stopped and many years later I rarely worry about anything.

I also remember a story of a lady who always cut both ends off her roast before cooking it. When she was asked why she did this she really didn’t know, it was just what her mum had always done and what she then did too. When she finally asked her mother why she always cut her meat like this her mum’s reply was that it wouldn’t fit into the small roasting tin otherwise! Not a problem for her daughter, but seeing her mum do this every week meant it entered her own programming and was carried on.

When we start to look at our own programme and beliefs and question why we have them, we can start to remove some of the limits we imposed on ourselves before we even started school.  I don’t know about you, but having a 5 year old running my life is not what I want (and coincidentally, my youngest is 5 at the moment and I don’t want him running my life either!). At that age life appeared very black and white and we didn’t have the ability to see all the other lovely colours and hues that as adults we know life can have.

So let’s talk about Christmas – our family has sorted it out so we all enjoy it and it all started when I’d been in the UK for almost a year I decided to go ‘home’ to Australia for Christmas with my hubby. His family decided to go on holidays too so we all met up for Christmas a month early. Now I can tell you that it was one of the most relaxed Christmas lunches I have ever been to. We all had a great time and enjoyed our holidays too and decided to do it again the following year – and have done so every year since. We don’t go away every Christmas, but with our family spread out around the UK, meeting up even a few weeks before the big day means we can all have a lovely time, but can spend Christmas Day doing exactly as we please. We spend the day in our PJs with our children and they get to do what they want too – it really is a day just for our little family.

Do you know why I bring this up? Because the number of people I tell about our wonderful Christmas who say how great that would be, but they have to visit their in-laws or are forced to trek around the country to visit lots of relatives and there is nothing they can do about it. Really? OK, so it might upset someone if you rock the boat of festive traditions, but surely it is up to you to live your life as you want to live it? I don’t mean shutting yourself away and ignoring everyone just because you can’t be bothered – but if you now have children and want the day to be about them too (and even if you don’t) then make a stand and create your own traditions.

The more I follow my own path and give myself and my family the support they need to follow theirs, the more I learn just how amazing we truly are and just how many boundaries and limits we set ourselves every day. So, this week I challenge you to do something you’ve never done before, try something new, eat something different or go somewhere unfamiliar – you too can break your childhood programming and discover the amazing possibilities open to us all…

And, let me know how you get on x