Permission to Live!

​​From kindergarten until my senior year in high school, I was required to raise my hand during class in order to ask my teacher for permission to go to the restroom.  Thankfully, permission was routinely granted.  The act of asking for permission allows a teacher to have control over our possible (or in my case "inevitable") disruptive behavior.  In high school, my parents also required that I ask them for permission before taking the car out to do something with my high school friends.  Again, my parents wanted to have control over my possible (or, again, inevitable) harmful behaviors.  I am so glad that I no longer am required to ask for permission anymore if I need to go to the restroom or to drive my car.  However, there are still times in my life that I need to give myself permission.  We all have had negative experiences in our past that have created a specific mindset and that mindset often keeps us from growth.  We allow our past to negatively impact our present and our future.  When we find ourselves in a rut or when (not "if") we find ourselves not able to overcome something in our lives that is keeping us from improving or moving forward, it may be that we must give ourselves permission to release the past, and to take control of our future and to move on or try something new.  We need to raise our hand and ask ourselves to allow us to get up and move beyond our past barriers and limitations.