We are each capable of accomplishing a great number of things. We can accomplish certain things that others can’t because our success can be influenced by our unique view point, imagination and drive. One thing that can definitely limit our success is our negative self-talk.

I hope the following topic will be of use to youth ministries, family devotionals and family home evenings.

We can be our worse enemy when we tell ourselves we can’t accomplish something even before we try. As an author who has attended a lot of writing panels and seminars I hear the constant advice to not decide for an editor what a good story/book is. Submit it out anyway in case the editor likes it. If I reject a submission by simply never submitting it, then I’ve taken that decision away from the editor. The same can be said for other dreams. If you’re trying for a competition, don’t stop yourself from trying out as you may get it. Or even if we don’t win, we gain experience that may help us be better prepared for a future competition. The great figures of sports and business did not become successes overnight but they had many failures before achieving their victories.

It can be easy to just say we can’t do it and then stop trying.

Object lesson: long rubber band

A rubber band can represent our abilities. Flex the rubber band between your hands or fingers and see how flexible it is. Now tie a knot in the middle where there is now two halves to the rubber band. The flexibly is restricted by the knot. The knot represents our negative thoughts and self-esteem. Just as the knot limits the rubber band’s flexibility so our negative thoughts can limit our abilities.

Tie another knot and another until there are so many knots (negative thoughts) that we can’t do much with the rubber band at all. Each knot or action that we perform from our negative thoughts can’ limit our success.

Now untie one of the knots and see how much more ‘room’ we have in the rubber band. It can stretch further because of the additional freedom.  Removing our negative thoughts can give us a similar freedom.

Please feel free to alter this concept to any principal you want to share.

If you have ideas to add to this theme, please feel free to submit them to the comment section of this blog. Thanks.