Take a moment to observe the constellation of your thoughts as they flow through your everyday tasks, struggles, perceptions and duties. Observe what’s frustrating, what blocks you, what you find tedious. Look closely at what your thoughts show is possible and not, where you can change, where you can't. And reflect:
What percent of your day do you spend thinking the same thoughts your parents did?
You were shaped by your family life as representing “how to live”. Your parents modeled what life was, what was possible, what work was like, what relationships were like. They modeled ambition, or perhaps lack of it; planning and goals, or perhaps a complete absence of same; persistence, or perhaps the guideline to give up if something was the least bit hard. They modeled whether work was satisfying, or something you hated every day for 40 years until you could finally retire.
Overall, they modeled what an average day was like for an average adult human being in your bit of the world, whether it was hopeful or distressing, whether it was filled with limit, or filled with possibility. And by modeling that, they showed you that that’s what life was -- often, that that's ALL life was.
You were also shaped by how they regarded you. Whether it was OK to ask for more or ask for what you needed. Whether you were punished for being greedy if you tried to get more than what was already given. Whether you could grow into power and competence in any role, or whether parents alone were permitted to be the power and authority holders, even after you grew into a teen, and then an adult yourself.
Whether your interests were deemed acceptable and fruitful (such as becoming a lawyer), or useless and frivolous (such as becoming an artist). Your parents modeled for you who you should be in the world, and they also modeled myths about you that weren't even true -- that you were too shy, too talkative, too smart, too dumb. They modeled your limitations as well -- based on what THEY thought of as limitations.
Now, take a look - are those ideas serving you?
And yet, what percentage of each day are you still living that model? What “book of thoughts” are you drawing on when you live a typical day?
Thoughts come down through the generations
As you pursue LIMITLESSNESS, realize that there is a breakpoint that has to occur between those old thoughts, and you. Become aware of how often you are referencing these patterns of thought throughout the day.
In what decade did your parents grow up? Reflect on the beliefs of that decade, and how different that is from the present day.
Then add in this - Realize that your parents’ thoughts and ideas were actually shaped by THEIR parents, i.e. your grandparents. So, many of these ideas that have come down to you may be two generations old!
Explore those thoughts by walking through The Generations Exercise:
The Generations Exercise helps give you wisdom
On a piece of paper, draw yourself (stick figure totally OK!). Then draw three circles around the figure.
In the first circle, write your own thoughts, beliefs and expectations.
In the second, write the decade in which your parents grew up, and the thoughts, beliefs, and expectations that were associated with that.
And in the third circle, write the decade in which your grandparents grew up, and the thoughts associated with those years - what your grandparents would have found to be normal, possible, and typical expectations that they would have told your parents were "what life is, and how to live it."
Look for connections between the generations in thoughts that represent myths or limitations for you. Look also for family lineage influences, which may have framed your parents’ fears or limits and come to you as well.
Now, look for connections between the generations in thoughts that represent myths or limitations for you. Look also for family lineage influences, which may have framed your parents’ fears or limits and come to you as well.
What were your parents’ successes, failures, fears? What were your grandparents’ successes, failures, fears? Can you see that if these come down into your own experience, they are artifacts of others lives, even many decades ago?
Can you see how you might be living the same day over and over based on how they modeled “a normal day in a normal life” decades ago? Yet, how technology, culture, workplace, and the world have dramatically changed between then and now in what is possible in life, work, and achievement?
YOU can choose what you wish to keep and filter out, but it is important to be aware, rather than unaware, of the influences these have on you.
Once you’ve realized this, now reflect:
What percentage of your day could you devote to UPGRADING your book of thoughts, in ways that would amp up your precious LIMITLESSNESS as a high performer and a human being?
With today’s web access, you have an almost infinite array of resources at your fingertips to intake NEW thoughts, beliefs, and ideas that uplevel your success, achievement, and potential. Use them! From books to videos, find role models for your limitlessness, watch, see how they think.
Read as many books as you enjoyably can on as many topics as interest you (really - do make sure they interest you!) to bring new ideas into your inputs.
Entrepreneurial uplevels, energy healing, new paradigms for business, new ideas of collaboration -- the possibilities are endless. Think of new thoughts as your thought-probiotics - introduce as many billions of strains of healthy organisms into your idea-making brain as possible. If you don’t already have a card for your local library, please get one now! It is your passport to a wealth of authors and resources.
Extra Credit: Do a variation on the Generations Exercise by focusing on the SUCCESS STORIES. Draw the diagram again, but write in the strengths, talents, and success stories for yourself, your parents, and your grandparents. See how your ancestral lineage has impacted you in positive ways as well.
What thoughts will you change today that move beyond the limitations you've been taught? What new inspiration will you reach for as you #healworklife?
Keep Growing,
Katherine R. Lieber coaches and trains on limitlessness, high performance, and healing the wounded professional to recover your core vision in the workplace. She is the founder of TitaniumBlue LLC.
Be limitless. Be the hero in a world that needs you.
© 2022 Katherine R. Lieber & TitaniumBlue LLC
