Stretching

Trying something new or stretching our envelopes can be really difficult, especially when we are so comfortable living inside these cozy little boxes we have made for ourselves. The key word here is that we MADE that box, and now it contains us in a way that is limiting us.  But if we made it, then we can tear it down, right?  When we are contemplating starting something we have never done before, we encounter great resistance from our Inner (and sometimes Outer) Critics who tell us to stay home, do it tomorrow, or just leave it be (isn't it comfortable right here where we are?).  But if we think about a time in our lives when we have been successful in a similar situation before we built that box, we can apply that same courage and strength to silence our Inner Critic and move forward.  Visualizing ourselves stretching our perceived limits, remembering a time when we did stretch with success, and then formulating an action plan to take those initial steps is a process that will eventually poke a hole in the sides of the boxes that contain us and set us free.