Another quote from “The Messiah’s Handbook”

“Argue
for your limitations
and sure enough
they’re
yours” – Illusions, by Richard Bach

I am lucky enough to have coaches, mentors and friends helping me through this lifetime, always reminding to search higher.

I started reading Illusions, by Richard Bach last week after I had copied a quote from another one of his books, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I was at my friends Rob and Ingela’s beach pad when I pulled out the following quote and read it aloud to them,

”Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.”

Rob turned to me and said, “Have you read Illusions?” by the same author. “It is his best work.” Ingela agreed, so he went into his bedroom, pulled out the book and gave it to me. I started reading it Saturday, will finish it today and he may be right. A funny side note is that Gary suggested that we make Jonathan Livingston Seagull required reading for our marathon training program. Look for that to happen starting in our fall 2006 marathon and half marathon training program.

The lead quote, “Argue for your limitations and sure enough they’re yours” is the ultimate quote for runners, for me and life in general. If I had a dollar for every time I talked about my limitations, I’d be rich. Why are we drawn to the negative? Because it seems to be human nature. Gary wrote about these, ANTS – Automatic Negative Thoughts in his Mt. Baldy article (scroll down the main web site page to read his article). Staying positive could be one of the greatest challenges for humankind.

Well, as a runner it took me over 5 years to go under the 20-minute mark for a 5k. I know it was me and my ANTS holding me back. Somewhere in mile 3 I’d lose some steam. I would always give in saying things like, “I am not strong enough yet.” I finally did it this year with a 19:17. It wasn’t until I told myself, “I know I am close and will probably go sub 20 in my next 5k,” that I did.

The first thing that really helped me achieve my goal was running with faster people. I didn’t let myself get dropped and pushed to new levels. I had to bite the bullet. Thank goodness for ChiRunning®. I knew my form was getting better and I had other ChiRunning® techniques helping me yet it was the ability to push my mind past some hurdles that made the difference. Maybe that’s the reason I became a hypnotherapist.

In my last article I stated that, “The body follows the mind.” If this is true so is the lead quote. I believe it is true.

Argue for limitlessness and the world will be your oyster.

Train Focused, Steve Mackel

September 20, 2006 | Filed Under Steve's Posts 

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