Expand Your Capacity For Life

Life is a funny thing, isn’t it? Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing happening at all, like everything is paused, still. Slow motion. And other times, it feels like everything is happening all at once. Multiple changes, transitions, juggling one circumstance and then another. Sometimes life is both of these extremes at the same time. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about life and our capacity for it. Have you ever caught yourself saying “Oh, I’ve just had enough?” or, “This is more than I can handle!”? I know I have. But I’ve also learned that my capacity for life, for what I can handle, isn’t a fixed amount. It’s up to me.

That’s a scary thought, isn’t it? 

And by “scary” I mean wonderful, amazing, exhilarating and all the adjectives that get your blood pumping! 

What if instead of things just happening to us, we were responding to our life (and even beyond that, what if we could shape our reality)? What if instead of only handling what comes our way, we decided to expand our capacity and choose to meet those things with grace and resilience? What if instead of getting knocked down by the waves of life, we rolled with them, allowing those waves to take us further and deeper than we ever thought possible for ourselves? 

If you’re thinking I’m crazy for even thinking this way or your brain is instantly telling you “no, no, no, that can’t ever be me”, you’re not alone. When you’re feeling that resistance, it’s an opportunity to get curious. You don’t need to change your thought patterns this second or tell yourself you’re able to do something you can’t (this approach has never worked very well for me). Instead, use this feeling of resistance as a chance to get to know yourself better, to increase your awareness of yourself and how you operate. 

Why do you think it’s something you can’t do? 

What if you could handle this? What would that look like?

What steps would you need to take to be the person who can handle your life?

How does that person, the one who is living the life you want to be living, handle life’s circumstances? 

Is it possible that person could be you?

Is it possible you could handle your life the way you want to?