Imaginary Barriers

“A Portrait of Me” – by Zoe Y. (9 years old)

I look at this picture and wonder who is looking back at me.  My daughter made this portrait of me.  This is how she sees me.  How do I see myself?  From Lady Gaga who says, “It doesn’t matter what people think” to Oprah who says, “Be your authentic self”… I am beginning to understand that you become what you believe.  Just the other day, I had a conversation with Lisa.  I was meant to meet her.  During our conversation, she mentioned that I seemed frustrated.  She proceeds and asks me what was stopping me.  Hello?  We just met last week.  From frustration to freedom in 45 minutes, I was able to identify one of my imaginary barriers.  Everybody has them.  It’s a rule that we create in our mind.  The rule is derived from our experiences that we follow diligently subconsciously.  I was not spooked by this but more curious about what “my rule” was.  In such a short time, I figured it out.  DING.  My life has not been the same since.  I’ve wanted to write this blog to describe the shift but life seems to be unfolding quickly and I don’t want to miss it.  All that I know is, the day after my conversation I went swimming with my daughter.  BTW: I never swim.  I can’t swim.  That day, I jumped.  Guess what?  No shame.  No judgement.  No failure.  We just had fun.  It was nothing like what I expected.  Thank you Lisa… Nothing is stopping me now.