Growing up we learn a lot of useful things from our environment and people in our lives. We make sure to look before stepping into traffic and not to eat the yellow snow. These kinds of lessons which are in-line with our purposes for being here. To achieve our dreams we need to survive until an age where that is relevant for us to do so.
There are however, many lessons that can be considered damaging to us as we grow. When we tell ourselves and our children that something is impossible we are contributing to the slowing of humanity's progress in every field imaginable; technology, medical research, the arts, sports, spiritual growth, economics, resolution of the planets' environmental problems and evolution of the human race itself, just to name a few.
'You can't have something for nothing.'
'You can't fly.'
'Aliens don't exist.'
'It's impossible!'
These kinds of statements slowly train our children to doubt their own inner sense of infinite possibility and they become slowly drawn away from their true natures they came into the world with, exactly the same way we were.
Children naturally know that life is filled with the possibility for absolutely anything to happen and they live their lives this way. The know that monsters and heroes can and do exist. They know that they are capable of doing or being or having anything they want in their lives and therefore spend much of their time practicing an underrated activity, one that many adults have lost touch with, imagining. They imagine themselves as rockstars, artists, pilots, doctors, parents. They know there are many ways to achieve the specific goals in this lifetime. They tell us they're going to be a soccer player despite physical handicaps or that they want to own a racecar even though dad is in debt.
And then we tell them, with sad eyes and all the compassion and condescension we can muster that it's impossible. We teach our children these lessons, innocently enough, to save them from some sort of invisible disappointment down the line. We think that if we can prevent them from striving for what we think is impossible they will be spared from some grand heartache down the line.
The children, however, are much closer to the source of life than we are. No matter what your religious or spiritual beliefs and convictions, it would be hard to find a parent who didn't know deep in their heart that their child existed, somewhere and somehow, before he/she was even born. If this somewhere somehow is the source of all of us, then children are the closest physical representations of the nature of this source. When kids come into the world bright eyed and bushy-tailed declaring everything is possible it's because they know a fundamental truth that has become a foggy memory in most adults' minds.
'Nothing could possible ever be 'impossible' because 'I'm Possible'.'
The logic is hard to deny. Ask a five year-old why they exist... the secret to life... and they'll tell you 'just cause I do' or 'to be me'. Children are extremely aware of the miracle that had to happen for them to exist. The entire universe had to conspire for the circumstances to be exactly right for their conception. Then, the gestation process had to hit every note perfectly for their bodies too be formed and their brains prepped for accepting the information they would soon be learning. But on top of that, something in the ether of the universe had to come together in synchronicity... be it the stars or god or science or whatever you choose to believe, to infuse the child with their own unique spirit, drive, personality and life-force.
How could anything a human ever conceive of with their minds, be impossible if something so unbelievably grand such as life could be possible?
I'm Possible, therefore everything is.
How freeing is this statement for you? Is it possible to quit your job and become a surfer even if you're afraid of sharks? Yes. Is it possible to cure incurable Cancer? Yes. Is it possible that there is life after death? Yes. Is it possible to resolve the world's conflicts and end terrorism? Yes. Is it possible that you could be doing more with your time on this planet to be happier? Yes. Is it possible to start today? Yes.
The next time you're about to use the word impossible, pause and remind yourself:
I'm Possible
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photo: Melissa McFadden Photography
♥ Jess
