Here is how to train a flea. Put some fleas in a jar and close the lid. Fleas always jump. That is who they are. So they jump and hit their head on the lid, jump and hit their head on the lid and continue on in like manner. Eventually, after a few hours, even a tiny flea with a tiny brain figures out that it hurts to hit his head and thinks about how to stop it. The tiny flea makes a decision to stop jumping so high. He still jumps, but not so high as to hit his head. When the fleas all start jumping lower, you can remove the lid. They are fully trained and will never jump out of the jar.

Why is that? They have freedom now, but will never again try to jump high enough to get out of the jar and their situation. The answer to why, is that they have set limitations upon themselves. They have programmed their minds to believe that they will always and forever hit their head if they jump that high. But that is not true, is it?

Why would I care? Because this is a lesson for all of us. We program our minds from our own experiences and mistakes. Parents, teachers, the media and other people of authority tell us that we can’t do things. Doctors tell us we can’t heal. And yet there are multitudes of stories of people who don’t listen to the limitations imposed by others. There is always another runner or skier who goes faster. There are people who are told to go home and die of cancer and they go home and figure out how to heal and live 50 years longer.

What limitations have you accepted about yourself? Know that they are not true.