written by: Wendy Franklin Muhammad

The other day I was frustratingly digging through a narrow kitchen cabinet searching for a specific type of tea. I got all frustrated when boxes of tea and herbal coffee fell onto the counter. As I dug around the cabinet, I looked to my right and it dawned on me that I could be using one of the larger, EMPTY, cabinets for my teas and herbal coffees instead of stuffing everything in a very narrow one.

A voice in my head said, "Why don't you use one of the larger cabinets? You have twice as much cabinet space than what you utilize." I realized that I'd been so accustomed to having limited cabinet space that I didn't realize that my new kitchen had more than 2 to 3 times the space. I was operating on automatic pilot.

As I stood there and laughed at myself, I began to transfer everything over to the larger cabinet. The cabinet was so large that the items looked much smaller in number and I easily found what I was looking for. Later that day, I went back and opened the larger cabinet. Then I opened the narrow cabinet next to it where I once kept the same items.

As I stood there quietly in front of both cabinets, I asked myself, "How is this reflective of my mindset?" "Am I using all my resources?" "Do I have more spiritual and mental capacity than I am utilizing?" "Am I stuck in a small spiritual space unnecessarily?" I realized that the answer to that question was, yes. There was no mystical person holding me back. IT'S ME.

That seemingly simple incident made me realize that my spiritual and mental capacity is much larger than I realize. I have access to more space than what I habitually use every day. By stretching and thinking outside of the box, doing something different and thinking differently, among other things, I will grow. I had outgrown the small spiritual fish bowl to which I'd confined myself. Here I am putting in all ths spirital and mental labor but I'm holding myself back because I need to move into a bigger tank. I'm stunting my own growth.

One of my goals for 2009 is to really focus on retraining my brain in a number of ways that will allow me to stretch and grow. That's probably why I attracted this experience. My goal to explore more spiritual and mental concepts and build the strength of my right brain.

This incident reminded me of something I'd read last year that was written by Dr. Vijai P. Sharma, PhD It reads, "Your brain is just like your car. If the wheels on the left side of your car are in top condition, but the right side wheels are jammed, the car can't go very far. You need both sides of the wheels turning together for an efficient ride. Likewise, let the wheels of your mind, the right side as well as the left side, turn together so they can support each other. "

So the next time you find yourself thinking routine thoughts, take a moment to make sure that you are thinking outside the box and stretching beyond your comfort zone. The universe will pay whatever price we ask. Let's do more, achieve more, build more, share more and grow larger in 2009. Let's stop holding our selves back.