The word ‘impossible’ doesn’t belong in your vocabulary, just like the word ‘perfect’ I discussed in an earlier post. It’s another word that limits your thinking and ability to achieve what you desire.
If you think about it, the word ‘impossible’ is often associated with Herculean feats of some kind or dreaming of something that seems out of reach. What if you replaced those thoughts of ‘unachievable ’or ‘difficult’ that we often associate with the word ‘impossible’ with words like ‘focus’ and ‘doable’ instead?
It is the thoughts that automatically come to mind when you think of ‘an impossible task’ that keep you from reaching for what you want. A good example might be taking on a task for which you have no experience or training. Automatic thoughts might show up like ‘I can never do that!’ or ‘it’s too hard even to try.’
I found myself dreaming about something this past week. Impossible and negative thoughts automatically showed up as part of my internal dialogue. It was pretty frustrating.
It wasn’t until I was reading a story later in the week and the word ‘impossible’ almost jumped off the page and hit me in the face. I can dream about something and eliminate my thoughts of ‘impossible’ if I pay attention. I’m now in a much better place because I’m practicing shutting down those thoughts around ‘unattainable’ and ‘impossible.’
How many different thoughts and beliefs do we have that tell us ‘impossible’ = ‘unattainable’? A belief like ‘only hard work leads to success’ will shut someone down if they can’t work hard for some reason. Maybe they have a physical limitation. By definition, they limit themselves to their existing circumstances. Other limiting beliefs might be, ‘money doesn’t grow on trees,’ ‘you’ll never amount to much,’ and ‘only lucky people win.’
These are examples of beliefs that will limit you in achieving what you want. They are part of our everyday life and often show up if we think about making our dreams possible. Other people can squash our dreams with their automatic reactions like, ‘yeah right, you’ll never achieve that!’ or ‘keep dreaming’ as if it can never happen for you.
Do you want to limit yourself? Of course not. Let thoughts like the ones above go and focus your thinking on what you want. It’s the way you can change your circumstances to achieve what may look impossible.
Dreams are NOT impossible. Begin to think of them as possible. Achievable. Don’t waste your thought energy on thoughts that take you away from what you want.
