What we are truly capable of

I found me staring down at me in a disembodied way that I had never before experienced. Lindsay Mitchell (many of you will be familiar with her outstanding work on her blog) is a brilliant artist. I found myself seeing me like I have never seen myself before -- it was really me. Lindsay knows me well and so captured me in her work.

Lindsay is an amazing woman in many ways. Here's just one. After the birth of her children she decided that she would paint. She hadn't painted before. She bought the brushes, paint and canvas, and some books and started painting. She stuck at it. She made mistakes and she learnt. She got better and better. She made more mistakes. She learnt some more. She kept at it. She is now a nationally acclaimed artist.

Lindsay teaches me that we can't begin to imagine what we are truly capable of. Perhaps we are great artists, singers, business people (dancers?), but we aren't because we never set our mind to it, believe that we can do it, and really stick at it.

Success never comes easy. But I suspect mostly we don't even try. We just assume we can't do things. Lindsay showed me tonight that we are capable of much more than we think we are. We let our minds limit ourselves to what we can and can't do too easily.

It's the same in politics and for our country. Most NZers now can't imagine being richer than Australia. And so don't try. They accept where we are. I can imagine being the richest country in the world. Once I can imagine it, I can start figuring out ways to achieve it.

Can you imagine it? Really imagine it? Good!