Tuesday, October 21, 2008
by Liz Warren
INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:
"If you don't know where you're going,
you'll probably end up somewhere . . . else."
~ David Campbell, PhD
WHO ARE YOU?
In the book "Unstoppable" by Cynthia Kersey, a cartoon appears showing a ship loaded with unkempt, bearded galley slaves rowing their life away at full-tilt. One of them says to another, "I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific!"
Chances are good that you work 8-10 hours each day, have 6-8 hours of discretionary time, and sleep 8 hours each day. Whether or not you choose to be specific about your direction in life, it's highly likely that the sun will come up and go down every 24 hours anyway. In other words, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere . . . else."
The alternative is really so much easier. In fact, it's downright exciting to think that you can be any "somebody" you want, just by deciding who that somebody will be. Really.
Instead of just fantasizing or daydreaming about the person you'd like to be, start acting like that person. Ask yourself how that person would act, talk, and walk. Begin taking on the characteristics of that person in your daily life, and then be passionate about it.
So often, we create our own limitations but simply fail to be more specific about our direction. We're like the farmer who placed a small growing pumpkin in a mason jar, then rediscovered it at harvest time. When the farmer broke the mason jar, he had a pumpkin which had grown to the exact (limiting) shape of the jar.
We are as limitless as our imagination will allow. When we break the mold - the mason jar - in which we have contained our growth, we will finally learn to fly. In the words of Richard Bach from his book Illusions, "In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice."
