Your Heart Magic

Pushing Past Your Limitations is Where the Magic Happens

• Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright • Episode 129

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We all encounter these thresholds in life - places where old patterns no longer serve us, where comfort zones have become constricting, where we run into "the wall of ourselves." Growth requires the courage to push beyond, to make the sacrifice of effort, and to trust that something valuable awaits on the other side. 

As Dr. BethAnne shares from her book Small Pearls, Big Wisdom: "You are a walking toolbox of possibilities. You only have to decide how to use those tools." Discovering our growth edge requires pushing past the point where we feel most limited. When we challenge our thresholds and move beyond what feels comfortable, we access new levels of potential and self-discovery.

Key talking points include: 

• Marathon training as a metaphor for finding growth beyond comfort zones
• The magic happens in those moments when we want to quit but choose to continue
• Pushing past limitations helps us create new thresholds for what's possible
• Growth edges require sacrifice—physical, emotional, and mental labor
• We are our own "walking toolbox of possibilities" with all tools needed for growth
• The Capricorn Full Moon energy supports hard work, effort and actualizing potential
• The Five of Pentacles reminds us to "look up" and maintain hope during challenges
• Journal prompts: Where do you need to look up? Where are you being encouraged not to give up?

The journey beyond our limitations may require sacrifice, but the rewards - deeper self-knowledge, expanded capabilities, and the discovery of new potential - make every step worthwhile. What threshold are you being called to cross today?

Join us next week for an all-new episode of Your Heart Magic and more psychology, spirituality, storytelling, and heart wisdom.

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Your Heart Magic is a space where heart wisdom, spirituality, and psychology meet. Enjoy episodes centered on mental health, spirituality, personal growth, healing, and well-being. Featured as one of the best Heart Energy and Akashic Records Podcasts in 2024 by PlayerFM and Globally Ranked in the top 5% in Listen Notes.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright is a Licensed Psychologist, Spiritual Educator, and Akashic Records Reader. She is the author of Small Pearls Big Wisdom, the Award-Winning Lamentations of the Sea, its sequels, and several books of poetry. A psychologist with a mystic mind, she weaves perspectives from both worlds to offer holistic wisdom.

FIND DR. BETHANNE ONLINE:

BOOKS- www.bethannekw.com/books

FACEBOOK - www.facebook.com/drbethannekw

INSTAGRAM - www.instagram.com/dr.bethannekw

WEBSITE - www.bethannekw.com

CONTACT FORM - www.bethannekw.com/contact

Intro/Outro Music:

Aloha and welcome to your Heart Magic, an illuminating space where psychology, spirituality and heart wisdom meet. Here's your host, dr Bethann Kapansky-Wright. Author, psychologist and spiritual educator.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

Aloha everybody. Welcome to your Heart Magic. This is Dr Bethann Kapansky-Wright, and today's topic is on potential and finding our growth edge and pushing past that edge where it feels like we are running into the wall of ourself, and finding potential beyond that. Yesterday, when I was out running, is when I had the sense of feeling inspired to talk about the topic of potential today, and I am in the middle of marathon training. Right now it's the Sunday right before Labor Day weekend, and so this is kind of the thick of it.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

June and July are the months of really building and training and starting to get in my long runs, and usually for me I will keep adding a little bit more every single week when I do a long run and then maybe every few weeks, scale back and take a smaller rest week to get my body a break and then amp it back up again. So yesterday was my first 15 miler that I've done so far this summer and I got to ride around 10 miles and maybe 11 miles somewhere in there and it was pretty hot out, even though I left early and I was pretty tired, but I was really committed. I've done enough of these to know that miles in the bank mean a better day at the race, and by better day I don't mean a fast day, I just mean a more enjoyable day where my body feels ready to do the race and I feel good and can be more present and take in the experience. And I had this thought, like right around mile 12, because I was pretty close to my house and it would have been so easy to just call it good for the day and shortchange myself those last few miles that I'd planned on, and it was tempting changed myself those last few miles that I'd planned on and it was tempting. I wasn't seriously tempted but I had that fleeting thought of oh my gosh, like it'd be so nice just to run home and if I wasn't training and I was just trying to do a long run for myself, I might just like cut out here and be like that is good enough for today. But I was committed to my 15 miles and I had that thought of, like Bethann, like this is where the magic is. It's these last few miles of pushing past the threshold and pushing past what my upper limitation feels like right now, because I've done a handful of runs around that mileage and it is making myself go a little bit harder, a little bit longer, tough it out a little bit like dig deep and be a little bit gritty and just find my way through it. And even if it's an ugly last three miles, it creates this new threshold and it helps me move from one level of where I was at to growing into a little bit more potential for what I'm going to need to do this thing in September.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

And as I was running, I was thinking about what a metaphor that is for life that we reach this threshold. We reach this limitation of self wherever it's at for us, whether it's something that we're actively working on or trying to grow, whether it is something that is an inner threshold, and we start to run into this ball within ourself where we realize something's not quite working or something that was once aligned or an old identity no longer fits and we need to push past and see what's on the other side, and that it's never easy. Oftentimes it requires a little bit of sacrifice, whether that was literal physical labor, as I was doing yesterday, but sometimes it's energetic or mental or emotional labor. A lot of times it's all of those combined where we are really working and efforting at something to try and push beyond and grow beyond that and we can hang out at that threshold for a while. There's not a timeline attached to that. It just depends on what we're trying to accomplish. But I think in general, this idea that when we can push past that limit within ourself, that's where the growth is found, that's where the potential is found, that is where we discover something new in ourself, that is where we chart out this greater sense of self-competency or efficacy, or curiosity discovery. We go past something that we thought was a previous limitation and we challenge it and we say I'm going to see what lies beyond this and we always learn something new about ourselves. We always discover something new. It always gives us a deepening, more resonant relationship with ourself when we allow ourself to push past the threshold and move into our potential.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

I want to share this passage today from Small Pearl's Big Wisdom. It is called Toolbox and it's all about the growth edge and potential. Toolbox Potential means little without dedication and action and you hold worlds of potential inside of you. You are the only one who has the capability to grow your heart, increase your mind, develop yourself and harness the gifts you've been given to create a life authentic to you. You are the only one who can actualize your goodness, strength, resilience and perseverance. You are the only one who can give yourself permission to dream both tiny dreams of simple things and grand dreams of beautiful visions. You are your own magical agency of change. You are a walking toolbox of possibilities. You only have to decide how to use those tools. Isn't that an empowering thought? You are your own best resource. Sometimes all it takes is a deep breath, an upward gaze and a reminder to set an intention, to take your capable hands, clever mind and open heart. Then go, make something magnificent out of your day.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

I think it's a powerful thing when we realize how capable we are and we dare to push past whatever it was that felt like a limitation, where we find what we need to do something new, to discover something new, to do our self-work, to give ourselves permission to become, to evolve ourselves, permission to become, to evolve, to grow. I think that is such an incredible thing, and as much as we are in this co-creative dance with life and we are receiving from spirit, receiving from the universe, working with the universe and the energies, and sometimes there's things that we have no control over. Many times there is and we just have to surrender to whatever's coming our way. Yet at the same time, even in the surrender, we are still a toolbox and we can say I'm going to surrender and I'm going to grow from this, or I'm going to learn something new, or I'm going to make meaning out of something that feels meaningless and I'm going to create something that feels redemptive or restorative or heartfelt. In some way. We get to make choices about so many things and we have so much power and so much capability and I feel like that is such a beautiful thing.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

And I love the timing of this podcast because it is the full moon in Capricorn this Thursday, which is the day the podcast comes out. And Capricorn is all about hard work, effort, really doing things to build a strong foundation for ourself, and it asks us to actualize our potential. Capricorn says, hey, take responsibility, take self-competency and efficacy, work hard, own whatever it is that you are working towards and grow. You can grow.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

And I was listening to this YouTube today from the lovely woman who does the website and the offering that is under forever consciouscom. She has so many beautiful, energetic supports out there. I really appreciate her work and it was such synchronistic timing because she was talking about this full moon and talking about those times in life where if we want something, we're gonna have to work for it and sometimes we feel like I don't want to, I'm tired, I don't wanna put the effort in, and it's understandable, we can get like that. But she was making the point that sometimes, when we can push past that and put the effort in, all the rewards are there, the gifts are there, the growth is there. It's so worth it and there's so much overcoming of challenges to become a higher expression, to create something better in our life. And so it was the idea that this full moon really holds that energy. And I love synchronicity because it echoed what I was feeling and my inspiration to talk about potential today on the podcast. And so I love the timing of this potential today on the podcast. And so I love the timing of this. I think right now there's so much encouragement in our life to look at whatever it is that we're pushing through, that we're working with, that we have been trying to grow beyond and feel encouraged not to give up on ourselves, to keep going, to hold on, to hope, to continue to find ways to dig in and just stay with ourselves and own whatever it is that we're working on and grow through it.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

And I pulled the five of pentacles today as our archetype card and our journaling prompt card for the podcast. And what I love about this card is pentacles represents the material. It represents what's happening in the outer world. It can represent material possessions, tangible things, and fives often signify change. And sometimes this card in the tarot deck is synonymous with feeling like we're in a challenge, we're looking down, we feel dejected, we're having a hard time with something which actually speaks to what we were just talking about when we are pushing through. But whenever I see the card Five of Pentacles, the first message that I always think of is this is the card that reminds us to look up. This is the card that reminds us, instead of looking down and thinking how hard it's been, how much more we have to go, and getting stuck in the negativity of that. It's a card that says look up, look up at the sky, look up at the stars, look up and breathe in something bigger than yourself and hang on to hope, because hope is on the way, help is on the way, growth is on the way. You are right there, at the threshold of change and good things are coming for you.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

I also wanted to pull a card this week to inspire some journaling prompts. I love working with archetype cards for my own journaling process. I think they really help invite us into looking at how the card specifically applies to us. So a few journaling prompts from this card might be where in your life right now do you need to look up? How can you look up? How would that look for you in a tangible way that applies to you? Where are you being encouraged not to give up? Has anything happened that looks like a loss, but there is a silver lining to it, or growth that is coming from it? And then reflect on what growth is that, what's the potential for growth that you see, and whatever it is that's going on right now for you. So I've always loved this card as a card of hope. Even though sometimes in any traditional tarot book you read there might be some negative meanings associated with it, I've always seen it as a card that reminds us to stay with ourselves, keep hope and to look up and to embrace not only our potential, but embrace the potential beyond a given moment that we might feel stuck in, to have the long vision and know that there's so much potential for change, for growth and for good things that are on the way.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright :

Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. I will be back next week with a brand new episode. If you are interested in my book Small Pearls, big Wisdom, it's available online on Barnes and Noble and Amazon and other online bookshops. Happy full moon to everybody. Have a bright and beautiful week and, as always, be well, be love, be you and be magic. Be love, be you and be magic.

Intro/Outro Music:

You've been listening to your Heart Magic with Dr Bethann Kapansky-Wright. Tune in next week for a new episode to support and empower your light.