How big is your personal sphere of influence?

The mind is an amazing tool, yet most people seem to use little or nothing of its infinite capacity. The mind is like a muscle, the more it is used the more it grows and develops. And if that is the case then the opposite is true.
 
Most people I know of (with one or two exceptions) have carved out their niche and they are quite happily sitting in it. Most people would term this a “rut” brought upon by the habits that we have formed throughout our lives. However, I liken it to this – imagine that the “world” you live in is a sphere – I know we live on a sphere – a darn great big one, but we each have our own spheres in which we reside. Can you visualise your sphere – how big is it? And more importantly - of the 360-degree sphere in which you currently reside, how much do you actually live in?  How many people do you associate with? How many places have you been to? How many books have you read? By how many authors? How many casual acquaintances do you have? If you could throw a dinner party tonight – how many people would you be able to invite? Would you need a marquee to house the guests, or would a tent on the back lawn suffice?
 
You see, most people carve out their 1 or 2 degrees and stick to the rigid rules by which they have created their lives. If you still do the same things day in, day out, I would suggest that your personal sphere is a tight bubble in which you walk around. A question for you then – isn’t it stifling you and your creativity having the walls of your world so close to where you live?
 
So what are we talking about here? Actually a lot of the reasons why we carve out our niche into such a tight little bubble is that we are scared. We are scared of change, we are scared of doing something different, we are afraid that the walls of our personal bubble will stretch and break and then what happens? We’ll be open to all sorts of outside influences, and oh my goodness we can’t have that, I’d have to change my thinking and my patterns of behaviour.
 
Do me a favour – a big one…. Do you remember as a kid chewing bright pink bubble gum and you tried to blow the biggest bubbles that you could – until it popped and splattered all over your face? Well imagine your personal bubble is like that big piece of chewing gum…and I need you to blow in it, I need you to create some space for yourself. Are you blowing yet? (By the way – part of breaking through the procrastination bubble is to do as well as read!!) please humour me – blow a bit more, create some space for your next phase in your personal journey. OK, now that you have some additional space, I would like you to think about today. What are you doing today – now? Have you done anything new and exciting yet?
 
“They” say it’s only strange the first time you try something new….so if you haven’t tried anything new for a while, something tells me you need a bit more air in your personal sphere of influence. Push the boundaries a little, seriously it’s not that scary out here.