“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
-Bruce Lee
As human beings we all have limitations, some we can overcome and some we are defined by. When we set our goals, we are usually met with struggle and adversity because we are confronted with unexpected limitations in pursuit of these goals. S adversely, one might think that we should expect limitations to prevent the unexpected nature of them, but then we run the risk of allowing ourselves to fall victim to our limits before we even become limited. So then, we question how to overcome our personal limitations when finally confronted by them, but yet again we run into even more limitations because as human beings we are built with limits; we can’t fly, we can’t read minds, we can’t breathe underwater. So maybe we embrace our limitations, there is definitely some merit to this. We fall in love not in spite of limitations but because of them, without our limits we are nothing. Even superman has his kryptonite, without it there would be no story. We all have surface limitations, our daily struggles that can be overcome with some determination, but we have core limitations as well that when embraced cause very positive outcomes.
Obesity is a limitation but it’s not a core limitation, it is a burden to our lives brought about due to a core limitation. There are many different reasons why a person becomes obese, but study after study shows that obesity happens as a result of lifestyle. Our core limitation is what is causing the lifestyle which translates to our obesity.
For instance, there are passive people and there are aggressive people, these traits can become core limitations. A person who becomes too passive can find it difficult for motivation, causing a lack of effort to stick to a healthy lifestyle. This is a person who finds it difficult to stick to things like diets, training programs, and workout schedules. An overly aggressive person develops a craving for more. Although they will stick to things, they will fall into binge eating, procrastinating, and overtraining to the point of injury or adrenal fatigue. This person shoots themselves in the foot before they get started.
“Rightness of limitation is essential for growth of reality.
Unlimited possibility and abstract creativity can procure nothing. The limitation, and the basis arising from what is already actual, are both of them necessary and interconnected.”
― Alfred North Whitehead
It is in our best interest to attempt to understand our core limitations not run from them or even overcome them. Because when we can understand them, we can begin to transcend them, we can turn our core limits that define us into our core strengths. Realizing that it is not wrong to be passive or agressive; we can guide our passive behaviour towards patience and direct aggressive behaviour to a focused diligence. We can soon realize that when we used to either fight or run from our limits that this was our direction all along. Maybe we can’t fly, but we now have the airplane, maybe we can’t read minds, but we are progressing in the science of conscious thought, maybe we can’t hold our breath, but we can scuba dive. The outcomes in our lives come down to our choice to control our intrinsic behaviours or be controlled by them, because we cannot controll the weather but we can choose to dance in the rain.
