“Some people are more talented than others. Some are more educationally privileged than others. But we all have the capacity to be great. Greatness comes with recognizing that your potential is limited only by how you choose, how you use your freedom, how resolute you are,
how persistent you are — in short, by your attitude. And we are all free to choose our attitude.
~ Peter Koestenbaum, Fast Company
Do You Know Who You Are?
I had a baby hawk land in my yard a few weeks ago. He couldn’t fly well so he was mostly hopping and jumping from place to place. The blue jays followed him attacking and screaming. They would dive bomb him and peck him on the head. He tried to get away, but there seemed no way so he mostly took it. Since then I hear him in a tree a few houses away crying a lot. Seems he’s waiting for mom or dad to come feed him because he believes the place where the food is is just too dangerous and painful for him. So he waits and goes hungry and is miserable rather than try again. (My story of course!)
It got me wondering how often we do that; have a painful experience at some point in our life and pull back and give up. We get so focused on the potential of feeling the pain again that we loose sight of what’s true. For the hawk, he can fly now and he is the biggest, fastest and most powerful bird in the neighborhood. Getting food is no problem only his fear holds him back from having what he wants.
Where might you being doing that; focusing on past pain and forgetting how powerful and resourceful you have become? Where is your fear holding you back from having the life you want?