Mental Fences.

The very heights of love.

The other day there I walked along the path that leads passed the chicken run at Falkland. I love watching chickens roam around scratching for titbits and treats they find. 

As I watched them I remembered a film I once watched where the chickens were trying to break out of the chicken run. One of the chickens named ginger told the others that there was more than the fence stopping them, there were also the fences in their minds telling them escape was not possible.

It's been a good reminder for me on those occasions when I've been dealing with my own mental fences...those created by self-doubt, uncertainty, fear. 

Can you relate? Where have you fenced yourself in mentally in recent days or weeks? 

Perhaps your mental fence is procrastination, a deadening habit that keeps you stuck. 

Maybe yours, like mine, is related to self-doubt, and the on-going internal noise it produces that keeps you immobilised. Perhaps yours is the belief that you don't deserve success, so you sabotage yourself to avoid having to find out how successful you could be. There are a million variations of the theme, but the result is still the same: we stay stuck like the chickens in the movie.

Those limitations are never external. They always live inside us. The antidote to being trapped by our mental fences is to create a compelling enough vision that, like Ginger and her flock of chicken friends, we're willing to resort to amazing measures to break out. The formula:

 I challenged myself and others  to take some bold, even outrageous steps to break free of your mental fences. If it's procrastination, declare a "freedom day" and take action on everything you've been putting off: from cleaning your office to making phone calls or responding to emails you've avoided.

If it's self-doubt, sit down and write out everything you value and why it's important. Then challenge yourself to eliminate anything that doesn't absolutely reflect your values, or add something that is a profound statement of who you are.

Recognise that your mental fences can only keep you stuck as long as you're looking at them. 

They can only contain you as long as you're not taking actions consistent with your vision. 

Go ahead, take the action you've avoided and leap into a future filled with possibilities. And remember, the fences are all in your mind!

Have a marvellous day.