Going Beyond the Limitations of Others January 24, 2008
Posted by tobeme in Uncategorized.trackback
A young man fell asleep during math class. He woke up as the bell rang, looked at the blackboard, and copied down the two problems that were there. He assumed they were the homework for the night. He went home and labored the rest of the afternoon and into the evening knowing if he didn’t complete the work he would surely fail the class.
He couldn’t figure out either one but he kept trying for the rest of the week. Finally, he got the answer to one and brought it to class. The teacher was absolutely stunned. The boy feared he had done too little, too late. It turned out the problem he solved was supposedly unsolvable.
How was this young man able to solve a problem that had eluded some of the greatest math minds? Simple, he did not know that the problem was labeled as unsolvable. He was able to solve the problem out of ignorance. He did not have any preconceptions about the math equation and in his mind thought the problem to be a normal problem that he had been tasked to solve and therefore did just that!
This reminds me of another timeless story of a time when an eighteen-wheel tractor trailer got stuck as it tried to go under a low bridge. The truck driver quickly realized what he had done when he heard the scraping sound of the top of his truck coming in contact with the bridge above and stopped the truck before any serious damage was done. He got out of the truck and assessed the situation. His truck was simply an inch or two too tall to pass under the bridge. If he moved the truck forward he would surely do more damage to the truck, if he backed up, he feared that he may cause more damage. For the moment he was stuck. A crowd of people gathered around as traffic backed up on the busy road. There were many suggestions offered, however none that didn’t involve causing more damage to the truck. A little boy riding his bike, no more than 6 or 7 years old came upon this curious scene and immediately saw in his mind how to solve the problem. He went up to the truck driver and said, “Let some of the air out of all of your tires until you have enough room to pass”. Of course this worked and the grateful trucker was able to move his truck without incurring any further damage to his truck.
Our perceptions and beliefs color how we solve the problems that arise in our life. Many times people succeed out of pure ignorance. What are they ignorant of? They are simply ignorant of other people’s limitations.
When you take on a project or a new problem arises in your life, you will find many people who will give you all kinds of reasons why something won’t work. The key is to learn how to filter out the limitations of other people or to see past their limitations and find a way to make things work or find a way to solve a problem. I am a firm believer that there is a solution to every problem, even those which do not seem solvable, we simply must remove the limitations of others and of our self to find the solution.
I encourage you to take a look at what is happening in your life and what you are not doing or not solving because of the limitations of others or your own self imposed limitations.
Remove these limitations, have the ignorance of a child or the new kid on the block and you will be amazed at how the solutions will seemingly magically appear.
Wow - this is great! It’ll be bouncing around in my head for a while.
Thank you.
It is not the ignorance, but the willingness to let yourself play. Any adult can manifest the same talents of discovery that children do every day.
Very nice post! As a woman who likes to solve puzzles, I’ll keep this in mind the next time I’m stumped!
Good Wednesday evening Mark !
There are rarely problems that cannot be fixed - only solutions that we haven’t figured out yet… It just takes deciation, and a willingness to keep trying, and from different persepctives…
dedication and perspectives , typo…
Did you ever see the movie Apollo 13? The scene I LOVE (and it was based on what had really happened) was when the Nasa crew on land was given all the materials that would be on board and available on the flight crew. They were then told that they had to figure out the solution to fixing the problem so that Apollo could safely return to Earth. It had never been done before…….and there was a time restraint……..
amazing!
We have the ability to find many solutions……..to figure it out……to critically think in a creative out of the box way……let us use ALL the colours in our crayon box to do it too.
great post. great message.
I loved this post. It’s a great inspiration. Thanks.
Beautiful words my brother,
In that suspension of disbelief, in the removal of limitations from our thinking… we take off our blinkers….
and the world is ours,
With love and thanks to you my friend,
Maithri
Ignorance is bliss, I guess it has its’ power too. (Ignorance in the sense of not knowing or realizing). . . I do have one particular thing that remains unresolved in my life. I have put it off for over 15 years. I have procrastinated facing it full force due to my own fears, and perhaps a touch of laziness (
) . . . . I am the only one to blame for not completing this aspect of my life, therefore, I am the only one who can put closure to it. Though I am successful in my career of choice, I would have more options if I get my booty in gear….
Thanks again for the uplift!!! Have a good one!!!!
This may not be quite relavant but one thing. whenever i search some thing new on the net, i always believed that it would be there for the taking and ive always have got what i wanted ive been practising this for three years and i cant remember a single instance in which i failed.
i believe nothing is impossible
might be improbable , unlikely but not impossible.
a wonderful and necessary thing to remember. good post!
Delilah Girl,
Glad that you enjoyed! It’s good that this has made you ponder what my thoughts are. Thank-you.
Michael,
Yes we can, first we must be aware that being an adult is in many ways foriegn to are authentic self. Thanks for your thought.
Sophia,
The key is to be mindful! Thanks for your thought.
Annie,
Agree! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Awareness,
I love this scene in the Apollo 13! This is a great example of what we are talking about. We are amazing. Thanks for your thoughts.
Carla,
Thank-you!
Maithri,
Yes! Thank-you. Blessings!
Lucid,
Sounds like you know what you need/want to do. Is it the right time to push past your fears and your laziness? You know the answer.
Thanks for sharing.
Jithendra,
Nothing is not relevant here. What we need finds us in many ways. You use the internet as a tool and that is great. All things are possible when you believe.
May,
Thank-you!
Hah. I figured out the air out of the tire one before I got to the punchline. I always knew I thunk like a kid
wow, very cool. inspiration for the day
nice one…
you know, i’ve toyed with the idea of discontinuing reading books and certain classes in my formal education and in their place, letting a blank inquisitive mind understand the world in it’s own way. education is great but sometimes it is a mold and restricts creative thought.
haven’t yet figured how to reconcile this problem.
actively thinking ‘crazy’ thoughts has helped me to some degree though!
if you beleive that ancient thinkiers were not brilliant by some divine connection - take for example buddha - we see that 2500 years ago without the benefit of the collective knowledge in the world today, they were able to come up with some pretty profound stuff.
so…
anyhow, great post. thanks!
I agree to what you posted and this post is awesome. It is really inspiring and encouraging.
beautiful analogies…. it would leave me pondering for quite a while…
Nice. I saw a snippet of text from this post when I first logged on, and almost passed over it. I’m glad I didn’t though, and I’ll have to file this away to look at it again in the future. =)
Yeah, it definitely takes the mind of a child or a “fool” as the Tarot references it
It takes both the playing and the ignorance — ignorance of someone elses “logic,” or reality. Such childishness or “foolishness” does indeed create “magic” and “miracles.” Because inherent in that foolishness is a natural “faith” (read: lack of fear or doubt).
Yep, our rigid thinking, our unwillingness or inability to open our minds as wide as a child’s, reflects our need to control, and that is fueled by fear. It’s that fear that will block that natural flow of That Which We Are. But when we allow it to flow, that flow is pure magic
The thing with a child or a fool is they aren’t heavily invested in outcome. They don’t care if they solve the problem, it’s all about the fun of it for them. It is that light-heartedness that is key. “Ah, ho-hum, yawn, that was fun — no solution? Oh well, maybe I’ll solve it another day.”
Letting go of that desperate (fear) need to solve anything is crucial to allowing that magic to flow through us. In that we have faith that something higher knows best.
The solution or answer to some problems is that there is to be no solution at this time. Sometimes the significance of it isn’t so much about the solution, but the often wild ride in finding one (all the “trial and error”
and all that we learn, and strength we acquire, in that process 
This story reminded me of Oprah’s “wild ride” to fame and fortune. And she has readily stated that she feels sure that she made it because she actually believed she could become that successful — I’m assuming no one had told her this was a foolish notion. Or if they did, she was much too “foolish” to believe them
Peace,
Dove
Izabel,
Glad you enjoyed and that you “thunk” like a kid. Welcome! Your thoughts are always welcome here.
Redhead,
Welcome! Thank-you, glad you enjoyed. Your thoughts are always welcome here. Hope to here more from you in the future.
Shawhin,
Welcome!
Knowlege and wisdom are two very different things that many people confuse as the same thing. This is why many of the wise people of the past did not have the eduation that we strive for today.
I agree, often times education can get in the way of really thinking. There is a line in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” where the lead character tells his fellow classmates that education will rot the brain, and this was coming from a genuis. He understood the limitations that traditional education can place in ones mind.
Thanks for stopping by. Your thoughts are always welcome here.
Johnne,
Thank-you. Glad you enjoyed this post. Welcome. Your thoughts are always welcome here. Hope to hear from you again.
Zachary,
Welcome!
Glad that this writing has you thinking. That is what it is all about, raising our level of awareness.
Your thoughts are always welcome here.
Sathaten,
Glad that you stopped by and that you enjoyed what you read.
Welcome. Your thoughts are always welcome here.
Dove,
You have hit on two key elements and that is removing fear and removing the focus on outcome. Once you do both of these you have unleased an amazing power. Thanks for your thoughts.
I love this post. It suggests that if human beings managed to sleep through all the warnings and destructive messages society sends out to brainswash us, then we would begin to listen more closely to ourselves. We could drop self-destructive thinking and rediscover our soul potential without so many interruptions and distractions that tend to hold us back in the physical world.
Liara,
Glad that you value in this writing. What you suggest is true and it can be done. What an amazing place this would be if all of us understood this. Thanks for your thoughts.
Hi Mark,
I followed your link from Jon’s website. This is amazing. I was brought to awareness last week of a limitation I set on myself. I was not aware of other new possibilities, and since then, I’m now looking at the world through different eyes
Your post resonates with my heart. Thanks for the timely inspiration!
Student of Life,
Welcome! Thrilled to hear that you have had an awakening and this writing resonates with you. I hope that you have time to read some of my other writings here. Your thoughts are always welcome. Thanks for your thoughts.
Great stories, Mark! Thanks for the reminders.
“If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.” — Thomas A. Edison
I think limiting thinking and the association with people who also contribute limiting thoughts are the only thing that truly keep us from achieving all that we are capable of creating in our lives. I have to say that I love the way your posts all seam to weave together from one to the next forming one fabric of thought. This ties in so well with your next “Yardstick” post.
Bop,
I too love this quote by Tom Edison. He was so right.
Agree, our limiting thoughts and the limiting thoughts of those around us do get in our way.
Glad that you are enjoying my writing and that you see a thread in the articles that I write.
Thanks for your thoughts and your encouargement.
I like the fact that you illustrate your point with stories. This really brings home the point.
By the way, Awareness, the Apollo 13 trajectory problem was solved by someone named William Nelson, who was then a precocious teen-ager on the periphery of the Apollo team. He didn’t know he couldn’t solve the problem.
ReddyK,
Welcome! Glad that you have enjoyed what you have so far read.
I did not know about William Nelson, thanks for sharing. Amazing what one can do when limits are removed. Your thoughts are always welcome here.
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