#426 Zone of Learning - Between Can & Can't

     Agency is so important to us, as is the sense of making progress - we'll take anything but stagnation! And yet, unconsciously or consciously, we keep attempting to create a solid unchanging sense of self. Such a self-concept completely contradicts reality - which we experience as a constant flow of change.
     How often do we hear people - including ourselves - say, "Oh I can't do that - that's not me" or "I could never do that" or other ways of expressing a fixed, unchanging, unchangeable concept of a "self"? Of course when we hear someone else say it, it just sounds stupid. Except perhaps when it applies to ourself, we recognize the wisdom behind Henry Ford's famous statement: "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right!"

     It's absolutely amazing how everything changes when, instead of desperately sticking to our rigid opinions, we choose to be curious, open-minded - psychologically flexible. We do need to remember that, strangely, it's easier to remain stuck in the certainty of something limiting, than to open ourselves up to the reality of constantly arising new possibilities! 
     We practice mindfulness because we know we CAN intentionally evolve our consciousness to more effectively meet life's many challenges.
      See: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2012/09/181-healthy-maturation.html