"IF YOU LET OTHER'S DEFINE OR LABEL YOU, YOUR FULL POTENTIAL MAY NEVER BE REALIZED" ...Ann Fedak
I remember hearing these words shortly after I had my second child, Ethan. He was a handful.
I call it the "second child syndrome". As I observed all the second children in our's and our friend's families, I came to the conclusion that they all seemed to be vivacious, stubborn, witty, spunky, and extremely "trying" at times.
Aunt Ann was over visiting one day. Ethan(Houdini) managed to wriggle OUT of his BELTED high chair and sat on the tray...all within SECONDS.
"Oh, man...Ethan is always misbehaving"...I said.
That's when Aunt Ann said to me ."By stating to Ethan, and to others, that he is always misbehaving, you are negatively programming him, or defining him. If you keep telling him this, he WILL eventually play into this role."
Aunt Ann was a teacher; she is very bright and knowledgable. I had never really thought about it at the time. but she was totally right. She then went on to explain that she would see it quite frequently with the chilldren she taught, and the results of this "labeling" in some of her colleagues. She feels that these negative labels influenced not only the personality of the individual, but also their perceived abilities/capabilities.
"If you let other's define or label you, your full potential may never be realized".
All too often, we say things without really thinking about their impact.
Shortly after that, I then studied myself and my self-induced or perceived limitations. The perceived one's being the limitations that were subjected on me, inadvertently. My husband once said, "Julia, it doesn't matter where we came from, what matters is where we're going".
How did others view my personality? Did I allow myself to be defined by other's? Absolutely...I was a sponge. So I changed the labels. I broadened my scope of abilities.
I defined who I was.......where I wanted to be................................it's an ongoing process.
It's amazing how we can get conditioned, or how we condition ourselves.
So ask yourself......Have you allowed others to define you and limit you?
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This is a hard thing to see at first but once the realization comes that it is not others who define you but what you perceive of yourself that defines you great things will happen!