05 Jun You’ll Never Guess What This Man Did
Are you ready for a challenge?
I unexpectedly met this stranger and his friend on my hike to Ulriken this evening (Bergen’s highest mountaintop).
Well this guy has thrown his shoes and is walking / hiking barefoot. In India, YES! But in Norway, NO!. I must admit, I was wrong. Totally relaxed, he is coming down from Ulriken with his shoes in his hand. No pain, no cold; and he said he does it in winter too.
As I continued my hike I thought about what he had said. ‘Within six months you will hike to Ulriken without your shoes too’. Well!! I noticed that not only did he challenge me to throw my shoes but I was also challenged to throw what I recognised as my limiting beliefs as to whether I could do this. In my subconscious mind this was not something I thought was possible. Or rather, was it something I wanted to do?
There and then, I noticed a stream of thoughts that said to me, ‘No I am not going to do that’. I also noticed in the same instant that the seed of this possibly was planted. Within seconds, I recognised the voice saying, ‘Maybe I will do it’. Although my initial response had come from a core belief that I could not do it, I had started to think it was a possibility. Even though he said, ‘it doesn’t hurt’, I know it will hurt my feet.
By doing something that we don’t think we can do, we change our beliefs. Most of the time these beliefs are subconscious and therefore we must become aware of them before we can change them. And sometimes we come into situations where our beliefs and identity is challenged. I have experienced this on my travels, particularly to India and Nepal where the philosophy of life is so different. This helps us to see the life we are used to, social norms and values from a different perspective and out of the box.
We have plenty of opportunities in our everyday life to challenge ourselves to overcome the limitations of our beliefs and internal mind barriers. But first we must become aware of them. Listen to that silent voice within. What is it really telling you?
As part of my work as a psychologist and in my own personal journey, we must overcome the limited beliefs that feeds our being with illusions. At the same time, like a maturing wine we must accept where we are at —challenging ourselves to do what is important. Of course if we want to do it.
Walking barefoot to Ulriken is not something I had as a goal until tonight. It would be quite a challenge. But if it is important enough for me to do, I know that I will do it. And like this man implied, maybe it will be easy. And if I think like this, I have overcome my limiting beliefs and it will be easy and a different and enjoyable hike. Already my mind thinks that I can do it if I walk very slowly and use the whole day. Maybe this hiking mindfulness experiment will test my patience, by taking one little step at the time.
Okay! I hear convincing thoughts. And this is what motivates us. If we really want to do something, and it is important enough – we can do it! It is believing in ourselves to just do it, no matter what. Whether it is perfect or not doesn’t matter. It is taking that step to let go of the limiting beliefs that is important. Just doing and being without thinking too much or judging ourselves.
What is your challenge? What are your limiting beliefs? What do you need to let go of?
We certainly don’t have to go very far to challenge ourselves. No need to climb Mt. Everest when we can throw our shoes, and get the everyday challenge right outside the door.
What motivates you? Is it important enough for you?
Love to hear from you in the comments below or you are most welcome to send me a note.
With every step we get there.
~ Borghild
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