a limiting theory

I have a simple theory. It is also an important theory. One that if proved right could change our experience of the life we live.

The theory is about the depth of human potential within each one of us. The power within. My absolute, sure fire conviction is that we are all capable of greatness; breath-taking courage, resilience and compassion.

It is not just that most of us walk around with untapped potential but that we completely under-estimate the extent of that potential in first place. There is a yawning gap between our perceived limits and our true capacity. We live so far within the safety zone that even limited risk taking is perceived as reckless. I found this in a small way running from Amsterdam to London. People were quick to say the body won't be able to stand what you are asking it to do. For me too, it started as an impossible mission and ended in realisation that I could have ran back to Amsterdam if I had to!

The limits we place on ourselves are a powerful construct. They have the ability of dimming our imagination, narrowing our view and preventing us experiencing life in all its boundless possibilities, wonder and mystery. The years of political stagnation across north Africa is surely testament to the fact that we can so easily put up with the status quo even when it is within our collective gift to create a different, better, brighter reality. When the flames of revolution were fanned, the people found they did have power to change their nation’s history.

So we need the audacity to have big ideas, to go beyond the comfortable and find out for ourselves what we can really do and be. Because that where the good stuff happens. Life transitions from the mundane to the extraordinary when we drive right past the sign that says ‘your limits end here’.