Using Imagination to Overcome Obstacles

So you think you are not able?  You feel stuck, there is no inspiration happening inside of you.  Life is fine; it is okay, but just a wee bit dull.

Some mornings I start off my day with a video from Ted.com.  This 10 or 20 minutes gets me into a frame of mind, if I am not already there, where I feel happy with me, my world, and getting on with the tasks ahead.

Amy Purdy lost her legs below the knee when she was only 19. However listening to her talk you get the impression that this has been her greatest gift.

Noticeably she says that her dream of travel was killed, the only main drawback she really talked about.  However she moves very quickly to what the benefits are from having lost her legs.

These are benefits to having lost her legs:

• She can choose the size of her feet to suit the best shoes on sale
• She can decide to be a variety of heights, as she says depending on who she is dating
• She would never get cold feet snowboarding again

Later she started dreaming and imagined herself walking gracefully, helping other people, and snowboarding again.  She says she didn’t just see herself doing these things but she could actually feel them.

She Set Goals and Freed Her Imagination

Like many areas of positive psychology she describes in detail what she could feel in the future when she was going to achieve these things again, and achieve things she had never even done when she was able bodied. The detail of this description grabs me.  When I list goals for my future I often don’t feel them, imagine what they will be like to have, imagine what effects they will have on my life, and this is something she is doing automatically.  I have something to learn from Amy.

I know there are things in life that I have given up on due to my health, due to my age, and perhaps due most of all from believing that I am not able enough to achieve these things – given up before even trying.

What are Your Obstacles?

Obstacles, as she says, do one of two things, stop us in our tracks or force us to get creative.  I relate this to myself and find that I believe one of my biggest assets is my imagination. But I see areas where I am not even bothering to point my imagination – time to think about that again.

She finishes by stating that obstacles are something we can use in life to push ourselves further by using our imagination and perseverance.  Now look at your limitations as blessings, gifts that can be used to ignite your imagination, and help you go further than you ever knew you could go.

Don’t get me wrong this is not easy, but if you just want an easy life you will not have read this far down.

Does this help you to walk the Camino?