Breaking Through Mental Barriers

I am continually amazed by the power we have to change what we do simply (or not so simply) by changing how we think.  This was brought home to me again as I read the story of the 4-minute mile.  

For many years it was widely believed to be impossible for a human to run a mile (1609 meters) in under four minutes. In fact, for many years, it was believed that the four minute mile was a physical barrier that no man could break without causing significant damage to the runners health. The achievement of a four minute mile seemed beyond human possibility, like climbing Mount Everest or walking on the moon.

It was a windy spring day, on the 6^th of May 1954, during an athletic meeting between the British AAA and Oxford University, that Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. He crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds, and broke through the “four minute mile” psychological barrier. John Landy a great runner of that day never run faster than within 1.5 seconds of the four minute barrier. Then 56 days after Roger Banniste'rs breakthrough, John Landy ran the four minute mile in 3 minutes and 57.9 seconds in Finland. Later Bannister and Landy raced in the Mile of the Century where Bannister won in 3 minutes and 58.8 seconds.

In commenting on this event, writer George Ambler observed, "So what happened to the physical barrier that prevented humans from running the four minute mile? Was there a sudden leap in human evolution? No. It was the change in thinking that made the difference, Bannister had shown that breaking four minute mile was possible. Often the barriers we perceived are only barriers in our own minds. Previous runners had been held back by their beliefs and mindsets. When the barrier was broken other runners saw that is was possible and then 16 runners went on to do they same."

Did you catch the sentence, "often the barriers we perceived are only barriers in our own minds"?  That statement really struck me because I can think of many barriers that I've put up over the years, telling myself that I can't do this or that. 

One of the things I told myself for years was that I couldn't lose weight.  Goodness knows I'd tried just about every program out there.  I'd heard the conventional wisdom about women "of a certain age" not being able to lose weight, and I believed it.  Because I didn't believe I really could lose weight, I expected to fail, so I failed.

What changed this time was that Take Shape for Life/Medifast gave me immediate results - I started losing weight right away and eating small, low-glycemic meals quickly normalized my blood glucose readings.  The results were so amazing and so fast that a crack appeared in the mental barrier I'd put up.  I'd never seen anything work so fast, and I'd never felt good before on any program I'd been on.  At the end of the first week, I certainly wasn't confident in my ability to be successful, but that small crack in the mental barrier allowed a glimmer of hope to shine through.  I was sure that my first week's success was just a fluke, but I pressed on through a second week, then a third.  Even at the end of the first month and 18 pounds lighter, I didn't really believe this was sustainable over time, but I placed a second 4-week order anyway.  And you know the rest of the story!

On this program, we not only have the opportunity to make a positive change in our health and our weight, we also have the opportunity to change how we think.  We have the opportunity to break down some barriers we've erected in our minds that are keeping us in a place we no longer want to be.  Making those changes happens one day and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)