Nothing Is Impossible Read Online Free PDF

and tell myself that it deserved to be whole. I reminded myself that I had always recovered from all kinds of setbacks. There was even good reason to believe that sooner or later my spinal cord could be repairedand the nightmare of paralysis would be over. Why shouldn’t this ankle come with me as I moved forward?
    Internal chatter after a brave decision is probably the rule rather than the exception. When a field commander gives his troops the order “Follow me!” he might be extremely anxious or downright terrified. But he has to project confidence and authority, or the troops will only reluctantly do their duty without rallying behind him. In some cases the old adage “Fake it until you make it” is actually helpful. You make a choice or set a goal and let people know about it. Then just getting started leads to the discovery of internal resources that help us go farther than we ever thought we could.
    My friend David Blaine is perhaps the best example of an individual who has used those internal resources to go farther than ordinary people can imagine. A slender, soft-spoken young man, he performs unbelievable magic with an air of nonchalance that almost borders on lethargy. But what sets him apart are his feats of endurance. He has been buried alive, frozen in a block of ice, and most recently, in May 2002, he stood on top of an eighty-foot pole for thirty-four hours before jumping into a pile of cardboard boxes. He has been described as a thrill seeker, a nut case, a guy who will doanything for publicity and money. As someone trying to overcome the limitations of a disability, which requires exercise and discipline, I take exception to those who so readily dismiss his achievements.
    The truth about David is that he was pushing the limits of his endurance long before the media had ever heard of him; that he lived for years just above the poverty line; and that he prepares for every “stunt” with rigid self-discipline. He trained for the pole for over a year, starting at twenty feet and learning from the best Hollywood stuntmen how to fall safely into airbags. Once he was comfortable standing on a twenty-two-inch platform and jumping from that height, he moved up to forty feet and gradually worked his way up to eighty. He never used a harness or a safety net. Why did he do it? Because he was always afraid of heights and wanted to free himself from that fear.
    The vast majority of people live within a comfort zone that is relatively small. The comfort zone is defined by fear and our perception of our limitations. We are occasionally willing to take small steps outside it, but few of us dare to expand it. Those who dare sometimes fail and retreat, but many experience the satisfaction of moving into a larger comfort zone and the joyful anticipation of more success. A person living with a disability may find the courage to leave the comfort zoneof his own house for the first time. An able-bodied individual might decide to face claustrophobia by taking up scuba diving. Even as our country tries to cope with terrorism, most of us know intuitively that living in fear is not living at all.
    David’s physical preparation included daily uphill climbs on a mountain bike so that he would have enough strength left in his legs to control his jump off the pole at the end of thirty-four hours. He also learned to fast for long periods of time; in fact, he didn’t eat anything during the entire performance.
    The most extraordinary use of his own resources was the power of his mind. He used his mind to overcome his fear of heights and to summon the willpower to go without food. His mind kept his body from failing. When he did jump, he imagined that he was falling into air mattresses, which he had done almost exclusively in practice. The result was a perfect landing.
    THE VICTORY OVER THE ANKLE IN 1997 WAS A LANDMARK for me. Since then I’ve been much less concerned about what else could go wrong with my body. I’ve also found the