“6 Impossible Things Before Breakfast”
Last weekend I went to see Tim Burton’s new movie “Alice in Wonderland,” based on the classic novel. It was a visual delight and was also filled with intriguing and expansive messages.
Alice quotes her beloved father and declares, “Sometimes, I have believed as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast.”
What if we each were to start out the day by NOT listing off all of the things we need to get done? |
Rather than writing down the home chores, errands, work projects and other miscellany that I need to accomplish before this day ends, what if, instead, I dreamed up and actually believed 6 (or more) impossible things?
How amazing would that be?
Now, the reasonable, rational part of me scoffs at the waste of time that contemplating impossible things would be.
But just think about all of the great innovators and trailblazers in history who absolutely had to dream up and believe impossible things in order to do what they did?
From the invention of sliced bread to the invention of the airplane to the development of a microchip, somebody (or a group of somebodies) had to reach beyond the scope of what’s known to be possible and try it anyway.
What seems impossible to you?
Having the love relationship you’ve always dreamed of? Working at a job that is interesting and enriching? Hiking the Appalachian Trail? Climbing Mt. Everest? Or, perhaps paying off your credit card debt?
Many of us have been very well-trained to approach life in terms of what’s logical, possible, reasonable, realistic….and what’s not.
I’m not exactly sure why this type of message has persisted for so long. Maybe it’s because it can appear to be safer for everything (and everybody) in life to stay pretty much the same.
This message may also be continually transmitted because it can seem like a protection. If you don’t step out of the realm of the known, you won’t get hurt…at least that’s the assumption.
It really boils down to limiting beliefs. When we label something “impossible” (or a synonym for it), we are holding tight to the belief that life (and we ourselves) can’t be any other way.
What Alice learned from her father was to believe in the impossible anyway.
When you find yourself dismissing an idea that another person has or one that comes up within you, take a deeper look at the limiting beliefs that cause you to deem that idea impossible.
After you identify what those limiting beliefs are, ask yourself if they are mostly moving you closer to where you want to go or mostly moving you further away.
You don’t have to analyze how that belief formed within you, who taught it to you and why it’s become cemented in your consciousness– unless you really want to. In fact, sometimes we can over-analyze a limiting belief to the point that we stick it even more firmly in our minds.
Instead, just notice the belief and decide whether or not you’d like to keep believing on it.
Follow your passions, interests and inner calls.
The point here is not necessarily to list off all of the things that seem impossible to you and then attempt to prove everyone wrong by doing them (though this might be fun).
Follow Alice’s example. Let your passions and interests guide you and don’t throw out any pull just because you believe it can’t be done because of who or where you are in life right now.
Don’t worry so much about how it will all work out. Just keep reminding yourself that it will– perhaps not in exactly the way that you envisioned. And, it can all work out without you necessarily ignoring the things in life that you care about.
Limiting beliefs do sometimes have a tendency to crop up again (and again), even after we’ve decided that they don’t serve us. This is why it’s really important to keep noticing your thoughts and keep deliberately thinking thoughts that help you line up with where you want to go.
Stay open to opportunities that seem to resonate with your interests.
The key here is to keep listening to what is calling you forward no matter how ridiculous, silly, impractical and impossible. You never know where it might lead…
Comment from Kristen
Time March 12, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Great ideas Amy. I just read an idea somewhere else today
about possibly starting your morning off in a more creative spot
and leaving your computer and cluttered desk for the rest of the
must do day