Recently, I was in the garden of a friend overlooking the IJ river in the heart of Amsterdam. A sailing boat passed by in the distance. My friend is a sailor and was on his ship that week and stayed the night in a harbour at another village. He recognized the ship and said to me “Funny, I was lying next to this green ship in a habour this week”. I was surprised, to me the ship was black and looked regular, so I asked him how he could see that from a distance. He explained that it was because of the green colour and the German flag. Another surprise for me, because I couldn’t see the colours of the flag either. So, I tried to take a closer look. To me the ship was still black, but if I did my best I could detect that there was yellow and black in the flag. The red was still to hard to see for me apparently.

The occasion brought me back to my childhood and the pattern I’ve developed in these early days.

When I was 3 years old my mum had prepared me a delicious beige coloured cake. She left it for me on our beige coloured kitchen table and I was invited to enjoy it. I loved sweets so it took only a second to get me to the table to pick it up….but then, upon arrival, it took me ages to spot the cake. My fingers were touching the surface of the table systematically to find out where the cake was located. That’s how my parents found out that my vision wasn’t quite what it should be like. I went to an eye doctor and wore glasses as from that moment. It wasn’t possible to correct my vision to 100%. With the knowledge I have now, my vision wasn’t that bad at all, but somehow I started living like someone that doesn’t see clearly and by doing so, I ended up not seeing things at all. “Don’t take the effort, because you won’t be able to see it anyway” became some kind of a mantra to me. Of course, not a true mantra in my head, but more a way of acting without noticing.

In this way, I created some personal boundaries, boundaries that are not actually there. They don’t exist.

Back to the boat on the IJ River. When I tried to take a closer look, I was able to see more than I did at first. Focussing on more details.

I know about this habit that I have and I also know that it’s not easy to change, but the moment I realized this, was also the moment I could start to change it, by just being aware. Therefore, I’m happy that I’m being confronted with my habits occasionaly.

Going back to the boat again, I stretched my vision and spotted the surroundings of the boat. I saw the bigger picture.

I assume I’m not the only one that created some boundaries and I’m wondering what would grow from the seeds of the unknown opportunities if we step beyond them. Wouldn’t it be great if we always broaden our horizons? If we stop limiting ourselves? For sure: I get excited! Only the thought of this increases my curiousity to take a giant leap into the unknown.

Back to the boat: I promised myself to always take a closer look and no matter what I see, I can and will enjoy the beauty of it to the fullest!

_{^{© Pamela Cools – Wake up your wisdom}}

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Thank you for reading my blogs. If you wish to read more, have a look below, or check my blog page. Warm regards, Pamela

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