WORDS OF EMPOWERMENT - Kathy Bourquin
Flying Above The Bar
- Details
- Category: WORDS OF EMPOWERMENT
- Published on Wednesday, 24 August 2011 19:02
- Written by Kathy Bourquin
There was a teenage boy who was a star pole vaulter on his high school track team. He had set records for his school and was going for the State’s pole vaulting record in one of the final competitions of the season. Although this achievement was important to him, it was not what he was most nervous about for this meet. This was the meet where many college scouts would be present to watch him. This was his ticket to a College Scholarship in Track.
As the moment approached for his time to perform, his coach took him to the side. The coach said to him, "You are more than capable of clearing that bar. You have done it over and over in practice. What you need to do is this: From the moment you walk up to your starting place and all the way down that path as you approach, put your eyes on NOTHING but the area over the bar. Do not look AT the bar. Do not look UNDER the bar. Keep your eyes at all times at the sky ABOVE the bar. Your body will naturally go toward the place you focus."
The young man followed the coach’s directions. He cleared the bar. He broke the record. He chose from a number of offers and went to college on a scholarship.
This story has great meaning that applies way beyond good advice for a pole vaulter. When things are not exactly as we want them to be, when we have not performed at the level we wish for ourselves, when we face a challenge, we often tend to place our eyes directly on the problem. We most often focus on the problem or even below the problem where all the bad stuff that can or may result from our challenging situation resides. Where we focus....we go. And when we focus on the bar or below it, we not only have a hard time getting over it, we are very likely will make more of that which we say we do not desire.
To choose to focus on the "sky" above the bar is to focus on this:
"I am a perfect creation of a perfect God. Together ALL things are possible!" When you were created you were not lacking in anything. God didn’t say, "Think I’ll create something here that doesn’t quite work." God didn’t think, "I’ll create this Spirit, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to work very well together."
NO!! God created you with all the capability, strength, wisdom - every attribute - for you to be able to rise above, move up and over and be victorious in any life challenge or endeavor. You are created to be happy and to succeed. Problems only set in and stay when we forget this. When we remember this Truth of our God given capacity and potential........we fly over the bar.
The bar represents our challenge. And Life - even at it’s best - still presents challenges. Challenges are part of life. How else could we learn what we are capable of achieving and being? Challenges are a necessary part of life. So to look above the bar is not to deny the existence of the challenge. To look above the bar and KEEP you eyes above the bar is to say....."the bar exists, but I know the way over it." It’s to say, "I am taking myself up and over this bar/challenge and I am doing it by keeping my eyes on what is beyond it."
When we focus on the problem/challenge we then begin to define ourselves and our Life as that current problem/challenge. When we see that as the description of who we are, we are totally forgetting the Truth. We are focused on the bar or below it. And we go where we are focused.
People, including myself, are frequently talking about what we have to learn in order to live a fruitful/content/successful life. It’s is a valid argument and debate that it is not so much what we have to learn, but what we have to UNLEARN. Our world teaches us things upside down. We are taught that problems are the reality - the REAL world. We focus on how big the problem or challenge is and we feel overwhelmed or at a loss to overcome it. We feel that way when we focus on the problem because we are under the perception that we alone have to overcome the challenge.
When we focus above the bar and keep our eyes on what lies beyond the bar, we are focusing on God/Spirit/Source/The Universe (by whatever name you choose to call the Greater Power). You were created as Spirit - a perfect extension of God. Within you lies the capacity and potential for all things possible. Your eyes above and beyond the bar/problem means you acknowledge a power greater than yourself alone. You are focusing on the faith there is a way and a solution - even if you can not see it now yourself. You are saying "I know there is something above and beyond this bar/problem and THAT is where I am going." It means you are choosing to trust and cooperate with the Answer. When you believe you can accomplish all things you are transcending any seeming obstacle - you are cooperating with God. Alone, we have only the bar/problem in our vision. When the young man focused on the sky above the bar, he cooperated with God and said, "I have the power to rise above the bar for I know something lies beyond it. I have the ability and capacity to overcome that bar. I am focusing on where I can go - NOT on what may appear to be in my way."
I invite you to remember the story of this pole vaulter. Whenever you believe yourself to be challenged remember there is an area "over the bar." When you find yourself dwelling on a sadness, grievance, pain or upcoming opportunity, remember the pole vaulter. Remember the wise advice of his coach. You have all it takes to get over this bar. It all depends on your decision of where to focus. You can focus on the problem or you can ask for help and decide to focus on what lies beyond the issue. You can choose to focus on where it’s possible for you to go. You will naturally go toward the place you focus. Propel yourself toward the Answer. You may not know exactly what the Answer looks like. It is only important that you know there IS AN ANSWER - always! That is your assignment here on earth. To know the sky is the limit. Fly into the limitless sky!
- Kathy Bourquin
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