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Parashat #Yitro

Barriers

During a past winter holiday I took my family to see the changing of the guard. My young children were fascinated by the thought of seeing soldiers in full dress, swords and British pageantry at its best. To my regret thousands others had the same idea on that dull December morning. Manoeuvring through the crowds we stood across the road from the Palace trying to get a glimpse. Mounted police officers had set up a barrier to prevent a rush of people on the palace gates. Three thousand years ago, G-d told Moses that a barrier must be set up around Mt. Sinai to prevent a riot during the giving of the Ten Commandments {aka Assert Hadibrot}. G-d was concerned that the people might rush forward in the desire to closer to Him.

These barriers are necessary but what of the barriers we erect that stop us from achieving in life?

How can we break the barriers that are holding us back from our ideal lives? By remembering that we create the barriers and that they are not real. We often justify our barriers with the most devastating word in the English language, “If”? “If I had this or that…I would be more successful?” “If I had more money, I would be able to make more money”. Instead of dwelling on if things were different, concentrate on what you want. Our barriers in life are only in our head-they are only real to the extent that we allow ourselves to believe them to be real. The person who identifies his or her barriers and works to fulfil their dreams will succeed. Success in anything is simply expanding to a person bigger than you are today. There are no limits besides the barriers we create on our own.

When we stop reaching for the higher levels of success, we stop succeeding. With these thoughts in mind, on that grey morning we finally succeeded in pushing through the human barriers, until we stood at the gates of the Palace.

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