Did you know that your thoughts and beliefs are like lenses that color the way you see the world?

As you go through life, every experience you encounter makes an imprint on you. Some of these imprints feed your ability to achieve your potential. Others can really hold you back.

If you experience something that is degrading, overwhelming, or even traumatic, your psyche is built in a way to keep you safe, and to prevent that from happening again. You may avoid things that remind you of that experience.

For example, if you took a drawing class in high school and the teacher said that you had no talent, you probably believed her and adopted the viewpoints: “I can’t draw. I’m not creative.”

You may have even bought into the myth that “Only certain people are gifted with artistic ability.”

But guess what, EVERY person has the capacity for creativity, and even for artistic talent. Being good at drawing is something you can hone. And what most people don’t realize is that artistic growth stops at about age 14 unless you consciously work on continuing to grow that talent.

If you had an experience that left you feeling blocked creatively, I invite you to break through that barrier. Because learning to take risks with creativity can help you practice getting out of your comfort zone so that you can grow and learn new things that can help you in all areas of your life.

Creativity is just one area where people often feel blocked. There are so many others. And often, these blocks are unconscious. We don’t even realize we have them. It’s like when you’re wearing sunglasses and you go into a building, not realizing you’re still wearing them.

When you’re in that building with your sunglasses on, what you see looks different. Our limiting thoughts and beliefs do the same thing. They color the way we see both ourselves and the world.

If you want to find out whether or not you’re blocking your potential, keep track of your thoughts for a couple of weeks.

Notice how many times you think “I’m not_______.” Or, “I can’t_______.” Chances are, that when you have those thoughts, they’re related to a past experience that has shaped the way you see yourself and the world.

Going back to the example of being told you can’t draw, when you were in the middle of that experience and you bought into it, yes, the thought was useful, because it helped you fit in. You didn’t want to be drawing things if your drawings were awful. So, you delegated yourself to the “I’m not an artist” crowd.

We’ve been conditioned to fit in, to not stand out, to avoid doing things we’re not good at.

But things are different now. The world desperately needs each one of us to push past our comfort zones—to get creative so we can discover new ways of doing things.

Look around you in the world. What do you see that’s not working? Now, ask yourself what you can do to help it change. If you hear yourself thinking, “I can’t…” just know you’re looking those old lenses of yours—it’s your old worldview coming into play.

So, take off those glasses, hunker down, and start looking for ways to begin making the change. Who is a person you can collaborate with? What organizations are doing work that’s connected to your cause? What’s a small step you can take, right now, to make a difference?

YOU are the one the world has been waiting for!

Are you blocking your potential? Take this quiz to find out.
Potential Blocker Quiz
https://www.jotform.com/231777218063155

When Your Glasses Aren't Rose Colored...