Kay:

Hey there Questers and welcome back. It’s Monday, February 22nd and this is episode 296. Just a reminder it is Black History Month, and we are featuring quotes from some of our favorite black leaders. Today, we’ve got a quote for you from Dr. Mae Jemison, a former NASA astronaut, and she says, “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”

Shi:

Well, my imagination is going wild knowing that today is two, two, two, two, one.

Kay:

I’m almost really excited about the fact that next year, this day is going to be two, two, two, two, two.

Shi:

Oh, that’s fun.

Kay:

Right.

Shi:

Well, this whole month has felt very binary, lots of twos and ones here in the year 21, but what’s not binary is the unlimited imagination that each and every one of us is equipped with and what Dr. Mae Jemison is telling us here in this quote, and it’s just so powerful in ways that are a little bit unexpected.

Kay:

What I love about this is that oftentimes a quote of this proportion will say something like, “Never limit yourself by your own imagination.” You’re like, yeah, I got it, let my own imagination fly. But have you ever shared a big dream with somebody else only to have them come in and squash that dream?

Shi:

I know we have for sure and before we were getting more wise on these kinds of things, it was easy to let those squashers come into play and do that. Becoming more aware of how other people’s limits aren’t really your business and aren’t your responsibility to manage can help free you and make you lighter. That way you can be the only one who limits your imagination rather than letting others confound.

Kay:

Right. When she says never be limited, this is really strong language because when we really take this into action it’s easy to say, never limit yourself. But when you say never be limited by other people that means sometimes having to hold the line on your boundary when someone is fronting on you in regards to your level of imagination.

Shi:

Well, I love that concept Kay that other people’s limitations can seep in and creep in in all kinds of ways that may not be so necessarily obvious to us at first. So, she’s really telling us to hold the line, never be limited by other people’s limited imagination. We talk about someone who had other people’s limitations placed on her. We’re talking about a woman NASA astronaut, a black NASA astronaut. She had to front with people’s limited imaginations all the time and expectations of her. So, I think that this really says it best, that never be limited, hold the line so that you can be aware of what limits are coming at you.

Kay:

Your imagination can literally do anything and everything that you see around you. Just take a quick visual inventory of the things that are around you. Every manifestation of a physical item, I’m going to knock on our table, was created twice. First, it got created inside someone’s imagination, and then it got created in our physical reality. So, if you or someone else is limiting the imaginative findings that are coming forward in your own heart and mind, you might want to challenge that because a lot of the things we have in today’s society really would’ve seemed impossible not just 50 to 100 years.

Shi:

We’re re-reading the book, “Loving What Is” by Byron Katie and she talks about this idea of getting into other people’s business. What’s your business and what’s their business? But if you’re imagining what someone else is imagining or you’re taking on the mantle of their opinion, or you’re paying attention to what others are doing, then no one’s managing your business and that’s your job to manage your business. So, letting other people’s limited imagination come seep into the management of your own business is a real shame and something that we can all do a better job of managing for ourselves so that we don’t limit it. That unspoken piece here really is: don’t let others limit your imagination and as Kay mentioned in the beginning, don’t let yourself limit your imagination. It might be kind of tropey and eye-rolly, but the power of the imagination…I mean, Neville Goddard talks about the fact that this is what prayer really is. It’s about getting into a state of mind where you imagine an outcome, where you imagine things differently and place it confidently out there in the universe to come back to you. So, imagination is so powerful, and we’re really encouraging you today not to limit it by others or by yourself.

Kay:

So, as Dr. Mae Jemison says, “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”

Shi:

Now we’re going for a Limitless Quest today. Leave all limits behind you by engaging in an exercise in imagination today. So, take five minutes, set your timer, and intentionally imagine a future that is everything you want it to be. Get all your senses involved. What does it smell like? What does it feel like? What does it sound like? What are you eating? What does it taste like? What clothes are you wearing? Remember this is in your head so your only limit is really your own imagination.

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!