Where Do You Underestimate What You Are Capable Of?

No doubt you have your own share of challenges to deal with. Perhaps it's uncertainty about the future of your job, maybe you are battling an illness, struggling to pay your mortgage, ensuring your kids don't go off the rails, resolving conflict in your marriage or workplace, dealing with aging parents, or just maintaining some semblance of balance in your overscheduled life...whatever your challenges are, how might the way you are handling things differ if you were to trust in yourself more fully, that whatever happens, you can handle it.

It is my belief that we human beings have a tendency to underestimate what we are capable of. When we hear of someone who has been struck by some adversity, people often say "Oh, I could never handle something like that." But it's just not the case. Ask anyone who has been struck by adversity and come out the other side of it and they will likely tell you that through the experience they discovered themselves to be more capable, more resilient and more resourceful than they'd previously imagined.

Last year my older brother Frank became a paraplegic as the result of a motorbike accident. As much as I'd like to tell you otherwise, Frank is still in a wheel chair; but he is also still smiling, still cheerful and still able to enjoy his life. Of course it's not to say that he's enjoyed the challenges of the last 9 months nor that he's excited about the challenges that lie ahead this year as he returns to his engineering job, but he has certainly not allowed his disability to keep him from living his life fully. Frank's courage has been inspiring, and he's provided me and countless others with a profound example of what it means to live powerfully: consciously choosing one's attitude in the face of unwanted circumstances.

But it's not about just trusting yourself to deal with unwanted challenges. It's also about trusting yourself to take on new challenges - challenges that inspire you but simultaneously stretch you or challenges that require you stepping away from the familiar and beyond the realm of 'guaranteed to succeed ' in which most people like to stay (for obvious reasons!).

Consider Barack Obama and the world of new challenges that he stepped into when he became President, challenges that will no doubt stretch him, perhaps at times may daunt him and most certainly challenges for which he has no guarantee of success. But then the same could have been said of the challenge he took on when he made the decision to run for President. Indeed, in 2006 his ambition to become America's first African American President would have been called nothing short of naive by most people; his friends and foes alike. But as we know, Barack Obama, like his hero Martin Luther King Jr. before him, is not one to shy from creating a very bold vision and sharing it with those around him. The fact that he is now President is a statement for all about what is possible when you trust in yourself to meet the challenges that come your way, are willing to risk failing and are committed doing whatever it takes to succeed.

But enough of politics! What about you and your life and your challenges and your dreams and your fear of being inadequate to fulfill them? Where could you trust yourself more fully? And if you did that, how would it shift your experience of this day today and the actions you will take to address the challenges that will line your path in the days, months and years ahead? Remember, mastery of life is not the absence of problems; it is mastery of them - however big!

As Chinese philosopher Loa Tsu observed a few thousand years ago, "We are all capable of much more than we think we are." And yes, that includes you! Don't shy away from making changes, don't put off taking chances and don't let your fear of 'not having what it takes' keep you from dreaming bigger and acting bolder.

Trust yourself; you have all the resources you need within you to handle your current challenges and to take on new ones that will enable you to experience life and love and yourself - and the full extent of your abilities - more fully.