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Bridge to the Future
By karen | July 10, 2007
We all have limiting beliefs that hold us back, all of us. Sometimes they are obvious and blatant, other times they are more subtle.
Sometimes the beliefs are buried so deep that we don’t even realize that they are there until something comes up where they are holding us down.
It’s funny how these limiting beliefs come about. An offhand comment by a parent or a teacher when we are young somehow gets tripped up in our minds and blown completely out of proportion. We think about it and we ruminate on it and it turns into a big limiting belief that seemingly came out of nowhere. As we look back with a reasonable mind we can see that the comment that caused so much damage didn’t even have any intent behind it. It was just an offhand comment, we were the ones who blew it out of proportion.
Last week I watched a wonderful movie with my daughters, “Bridge to Terabithia” 
But back to my point. There is a poignant line in the movie where the young boy says to his best friend “I can‘t play anymore because I need to keep my head out of the clouds and stop dreaming” (I’m paraphrasing, of course). He had heard that from his father, a man stressed out about life and money and raising kids. His father was an ordinary man and like many of us do, he was not thinking about his child when he said “get your head out of the clouds” but rather thinking about the problems he had created in his own life. But the boy took it seriously.
It was sad because the boy was having so much fun and creating so much joy from his imagination but he was trying to shut it down because his parent had told him he was wasting his time.
Imagination is never a “waste of time”!
That is the kind of offhand comment that can cause a limiting belief. And it’s not only children who pick up those kinds of beliefs, not even adults are immune. Very few, if any of us respond positively to criticism, even when it is cloaked as “instructive”.
So as we communicate with others perhaps we need to consider them and their feelings first. Dale Carnegie wrote an amazing book about 100 years ago (I exaggerate but it was a long time ago) “How to Win Friends & Influence People”
As parents especially and as friends also, consider the other person before you speak harshly.
And if you want to see a great family movie, one that will spark your imagination, go and rent “Bridge to Terabithia”
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Topics: Living the Power, Personal Development, Real Life, Reflections |
July 11th, 2007 at 11:08 am
What a beautiful post. Thank you! I love your site because you always provide such great resources. There’s always some good book or movie that you mention that I’ve never heard of and now get to check out.
This movie sounds right up my alley. I can’t wait to see it.
Lori
July 11th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Thanks Lori! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I appreciate having you for a reader!!
Great movie! I loved it!
July 11th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Thanks for the recommendation, Karen…I always love to hear of good ones to check out.
Parenting is so difficult!! We get so caught up in ‘teaching’ our kids that we forget to just support and trust. Not easy..and so tragic the things we do in the name of love, yes?
July 11th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Yes, but these are the people we love more than anything. If we think of anyone we need to think of them!
You’ll love the movie! thanks for stopping by!
November 24th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
[...] And I am also reading “Bridge to Terabithia” to my daughters. I loved the movie. I usually think books are better than movies but so far the movie was pretty true to the book. [...]