This article is one of mankind’s mistakes proposed by Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC-43BC) entitled “The Six Mistakes of Man”.
I believe that these ‘mistakes’ are as common today as they were over 2000 years ago and I am sure that you will notice parts of you that participate in these mistakes.
Mankind’s Mistake #3 is “Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it”.
Because you haven’t been able to achieve something does it mean that you can’t do it or even that it can’t be done? I don’t think so.
I’m reminded of a certain commissioner of U.S. Patent Officer. In 1895, he proposed to Congress that the Patent Office be closed because all the great inventions had already been made.
We are living in an infinite universe and although the tangible stuff that we work with may seem to be finite there are infinite ways of interacting with it so there’s no worries about the Patent Office closing soon!
How many things are you telling yourself are impossible just because you haven’t been able to do them so far? What would you like for your practice that you haven’t been able to accomplish so far?
A reminder that I have always found useful is “If its possible in the world, its possible for me”.
Some of the most successful people the world has known (by whatever criteria you chose to measure success by) have come from impoverished backgrounds. This could be financially, socially, culturally, ethnically etc. the point is that the field of possibility has been open to these people and they have not taken their inability to accomplish at any point as a sign that it cant be done. They found a way.
Identify the areas of your practice that you would like to be, do and have and use someone who has been there and done that to mentor you and watch the possibilities open up for you.
