What do you see on the picture of this blog ? Do you see a disabled man ? Or do you see an athlete ?
Even more important question : how do you think this man sees himself ?
I don’t know him, so I don’t know for sure the answer to this question. But I really believe he sees himself as someone who will not be stopped by his physical limitations.
If you had only one leg, would you be depressed or having fun climbing a wall ? In both cases, you only have one leg ! But in once case, you chose to focus on your limitations; in the other one, you focus on your possibilities. Moving your attention from your limitations to your possibilities is a paradigm shift.
What is a paradigm? It is an habitual way of thinking and behaving that leads to the results you get in life. The word “Paradigm” has been very important in my recent self-development, because of this definition. Let’s seek that in : our way of thinking and behaving has a direct influence on our results. So you want more results ? Let’s change our thoughts and behaviors !
What kind of results do you think this man is having in his life ? What kind of results do you think he would have if he were staying at home thinking about how unfair it is for him to not have one of his two legs. Again, in both cases, there is a leg missing. And it is a tragedy in one’s life. But then what ? Depressed or ready for a new challenge ? Which way of thinking and behaving will you choose ? It will defines your future and your results.
Everyone has a paradigm. It’s just a matter of whether yours works for you or against you. If your paradigm is to think about your limitations (false or real – a lot of our limitations are just in our mind by the way !), then your results will be limited. If your paradigm is to think about your possibilities, then your results will be full of possibilities. I am sure that as you read that, it makes complete sense. It seems obvious !
But then back to our real life, start to pay attention to your inner voice. Pay attention to your thoughts. Pay attention to what your subconscious is telling you. When I started to pay more attention to these inner thoughts and to track which one were about my limitations and which one were about my possibilities, I was baffled !!! So many were about my limitations ! And when I started to think about my possibilities, so many times my inner voice would interrupt my thoughts and explain to me why it was so stupid to consider these beautiful options for my life !!! I then realized I had to change something : my paradigm. It didn’t come to me immediately, it took me several months to understand how all that works. A lot of reading, listening, research,…But here it is : this is my gift to you : if you want to change your life, you need to shift your paradigm and get a paradigm that actually works for you.
How do you do that ? First by deciding the results you want to achieve in your life. Then you can identify the actions, the behaviors, the thinking you need to develop to get there. And promise yourself to focus on those.
Second, by working out. Not your body, your mind. Make a point, as often as you can, to notice what you are thinking, notice what the inner voice is saying. Is it a limiting thought or is it an empowering thought ? If it is a limiting thought, learn to DESTROY it. To do so, I replace the limiting thought by an empowering thought. I take a deep breath through my nose, and slowly breathe out through my mouth. As I feel the air leaving my body, I repeat in my mind “I reject this thought from me, this thought is getting out of me, I deny this thought”. And then, I think about the new empowering thought and I repeat it several times in my mind : “I believe I can do…”. Small trick but the more you practice and the easier it gets. The easier it gets, the more empowering thoughts you get in your mind. The more empowering thoughts you get, the better your results !!!
It is called THE PARADIGM SHIFT.
