Setting the Ceiling High

191 Marbles

There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.
Napoleon Hill 

    I remember going into my first class in Grade 8.  I was in a private girls’ school that had an entrance examination to be accepted and the bar was already set higher than my elementary school.  My Social Studies teacher, Ms. Lyons, was a formidable woman who gave us a big assignment on our first day of school, bringing in the stellar projects from the previous years to use as examples.  I can’t even remember what the project assignment was, but I remember leafing through the perfectly composed and presented assignments and gulping to myself, “She’s got to be kidding.”  When class was over, she came back to me and, as if reading my mind, said directly to me, “That’s the kind of work I expect from you.”
    I remember thinking, “Yeah, right,” along with, “How does she even know that I’m capable of this?” but she said it with such conviction that a little kernel of belief formed inside of me and I thought, “Maybe I can do this incredible work.”  I remember working so hard on that project and when I finished it, it rivaled the work of those chosen few from the first day of class.  But more than anything, I learned that we create our own limitations.  If she didn’t see possibility in me, I probably wouldn’t have seen it in myself and I would have produced a mediocre outcome.  Patricia Neal noted, "A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.
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    I’ve been thinking about limitations lately, wondering what limitations I’m not seeing that, if Ms. Lyons were here, she’d point out to me.  Where am I not setting my ceiling high enough?  And is the idea of a ceiling a limitation in itself?  To help illuminate the subject, I turned to others who have traveled the same roads.  Here are some of my favorite quotes:

Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.

Jamie Paolinetti 

Any person who selects a goal in life which can be fully achieved, has already defined his own limitations.

Cavett Robert 

Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities.
Terry Josephson 

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Patanjali quotes

Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers. 

Mignon McLaughlin

Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you'll see the way to fly.
Richard Bach

Where are you seeing limitations where there could be possibilities?