Ignore Your Limits

"Know your limits, then ignore them" ~John Mason

Sometimes it is good to not know how far you can go. Then you will surprise yourself by how far you can go. Lets say that you are invited to run a marathon. You say yes knowing you have never run that kind of distance before. You get on the starting line and start running when you hear the signal. You will be pleasantly surprised how far you can run without stopping. Then you will be surprised that you are able to walk the rest without stopping. Then you will be able to tell everyone that you have completed a marathon. It may take you 6-8 hours to complete the marathon but that is OK. You did it, and that is all that matters.

Now that you have an idea of what it is like to run a marathon, you know what your limits are. You will know what it takes to get yourself to the next level. Now all you have to do is train yourself to get past those limits. You start running everyday. You start to rat better, making sure you eat things that will give your muscles the nutrients they need to take the punishment you intend to put on them.

Instead of waiting for someone to invite you to run that next marathon, you start searching for the next one you want to run. You make plans to be at that marathon, and you set goals to get you to the point to run that race. When the day comes you start running, and are amazed when you pass the 5 mile mark without feeling too much strain. You keep running till you can't run anymore. Then you walk the rest of the way. When you finish, you find you have shaved off two hours off you last marathon. Now you know what your new limits are and you can plan for the next one.

The World Within You

Think of the world you carry within you. — Rainer Maria Rilke

 Life is a personal point of view. You have to look around you and think about what is going on. You have to process and make your own judgements. You have to listen to the sounds and the words and make of them what you know about. It is personal to each of us. The same experience is impossible for each of us to have. That means we each have a different world within us that each of us are living.

Now that I have completely confused you let me see if I can explain it a little; try to make it clearer. Lets say two people are standing at the bus stop. They are both standing side by side and the bus pulls to the curb and the doors open. It is there to pick them up to take them wherever they want to go. It may seem they are having the same physical experience, but the true experience each one is having is completely different.

First they are experiencing the bus coming to the bus stop at a slightly different angle than the person standing next to them. Therefore they are not seeing the exact same view of the bus.

Second they may be feeling different emotions about taking the bus. One of them might be excited about taking the bus because they have a little bit of pocket change that day and don't have to walk to the store. The other person might be dreading the bus because they don't like crowds and this bus is always crowded. You never know how a person's past experiences are going to affect the present moment.

Even though one thing is happening in the world, each person experiences it differently, therefore the world is different inside their mind than the person standing next to them. There is only one physical world, but we only experience a small fraction of that world, creating something unique within ourselves. Let's live it like it's our own.

Please Leave a comment and expand on my thoughts about personal experience; about the world within ourselves.