Welcome to “How You Living?” a transformative podcast featuring best-selling author, inspirational speaker and minister, Dr. Rick Rigsby—and, now, Dr. Rick.
Dr. Rigsby: Hello, friends. Thanks so much for listening today. I want to talk about possibilities and reconsidering what's possible.
I absolutely love the mindset of one who firmly believes that all things are possible. Alexander the Great said on one occasion, “There is nothing impossible to those who try.”
Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it's done.”
How about the great football coach, Vince Lombardi, who said, “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” [01:02.2]
From that source known as “anonymous”: “Impossible only means you haven't found the solution yet.” I like that one. Not only is it biblical, for Scripture teaches that all things are possible to those who believe, but a mindset of what is possible is transformative.
People who have such a mindset are big dreamers. They thrive on creativity. Their lives are filled with expectations and they're contagious. They're fun to be around. They're exciting. They've refused to be limited by what people think or what occurred in the past, or how things have always been accomplished. Their mind is fertile. Their thinking is limitless.
Teresa Lewis wrote in a blog that there are seven specific mindsets critical to our happiness and success. Mindset No. 1: “Everything is possible.” You see, friends, dreaming without limits. That's the key. I love the words of Pastor Chuck Swindoll, who said on one occasion, “We're all faced with a series of great opportunities disguised as impossible situations.” I love that. [02:17.3]
Joan Bauer said, “When hope gets released in a place, all kinds of things are possible.” I believe this. Not only do I believe what Bauer said, I wrote about this very thing in a book called Afraid to Hope. As many regular listeners to this podcast know, I went through a devastating season years ago, losing my first wife to breast cancer. Also devastated our two young sons who watched their mother battle courageously for years.
I remember at the funeral home, telling my father, “Dad, I’ve lost hope. I've just lost hope,” and his response was one of the most profound statements I’ve ever heard in my life. My dad, the wisest man I’ve ever met in my life, a third-grade dropout, looked at me and said, “Son, you haven't lost hope. You can't lose something God gave you. You've lost perspective. Now, son, just keep standing.” [03:15.2]
That comment was the catalyst for me to eventually reconnect with hope. Years later, I would define hope as a quality within each one of us that places a transformative demand upon the heart to believe for the absolute very best outcome. Translation: hope is the launching pad for what it's possible. It took me a while, but I eventually began adjusting my mindset.
After Trina's death, I took baby steps at first. It seemed like months. I went from saying words like “I’ll never be happy again” to words like “maybe one day I won't cry myself to sleep.” Listen again, from words like “I’ll never” to words like “maybe.” That shift in thinking, as small as it may seem, was fueled by hope, a new expectation that produced a new possibility. [04:17.6]
Trina told me before passed away, just days before she passed away, she told me that I wasn't meant to live alone and that her boys needed a mom. What a selfless sentiment from a dying wife, and when she said it, truthfully, I just didn't want to hear it. But several months after her passing, I recall revisiting those conversations. Her words were so powerful that I began thinking, What if?
I gave myself permission to wonder and to explore. My best friend and trusted companion encouraged me to make a list of the qualities I wanted in a wife, should that wife ever occur again. Over time, I went from saying “never” to “I wonder.” I was on the verge of developing an “all things or possible” mentality. [05:13.8]
Now let's fast forward a few years. When I first met the woman whom I would eventually marry, I just knew she was the one. Oh, by the way, she exceeded every quality I once listed as ideal for a future wife. My boys fell in love with her also and Janet adopted those boys as her own sons, fulfilling Trina's last wish that her babies not go through life without a mommy.
You see, friends, I'm living proof that all things are possible, and all of this is birthed by hope. It was in my case and it still is today. You see, hope creates the expectation that all things are possible. You might be saying, That's not my situation. I didn't lose a spouse. I get that. I understand, but the principle is universal and it can be applied regardless of the mountain in front of you. [06:10.7]
I used those words on purpose. Let me explain what I'm talking about with this example that I think will offer universal understanding. Recently, I watched a remarkable documentary called 14 Peaks. You'll want to remember that title. It's available on Netflix, 14 Peaks. It's the amazingly true story of Nims Purja, a Nepal-born naturalized British mountaineer who caught the mountain climbing community by surprise. You see, Nims set out to climb all 14 8,000-meter peaks—8,000 meters. That translates to about 26,000 feet, an altitude known in the climbing community as the death zone. [06:58.5]
At this altitude, one breathes just a third of the oxygen breathed at sea level. At this altitude, the elements can be brutal, fatal. Some climbers experience a phenomenon called HACE, high-altitude cerebral edema. It produces a loss of control, disorientation and hallucinations.
Climbing all 8,000-meter peaks has been accomplished before. The first to complete it was Italian Reinhold Messner. He did it in 1986 without the assistance of supplemental oxygen. He climbed all 14 8,000-meter peaks. It took him 14 years.
Nims comes along a couple of years ago, back in 2019. Nims and his Nepal team set out to climb all 14 peaks in seven months, something absolutely unheard of. Nims called the expedition “Project Possible.” He said it was his way of inspiring his country, perhaps even inspiring the world. [08:13.7]
In 2019, Nims and his team accomplished this amazing feat in six months and six days, breaking several mountaineering records in the process. He said on one occasion, “Giving up is not in my blood.” Oh, friends, this documentary, 14 Peaks, will inspire you. It will encourage you. It will motivate you. It will challenge you. It will convince you that all things are possible.
I’ve watched three movies over the last month and all have an underlying theme. In each movie, I'm watching this theme develop that all things are possible, from the movie Being the Ricardos, the story of Lucille and Desi, to American Underdog, the story of Kurt Warner, who goes from stocking supermarket shelves to becoming a super-bowl-winning quarterback, to 14 Peaks. [09:16.8]
Friends, being inspired by such stories develops that mindset. It works to convince us, to challenge us in our thinking that all things are possible. Even if Hollywood says that your production company is impossible, even if nobody thinks you can play in the NFL, even if climbing 14 peaks in six months sounds absurd, I want to just tell you don't stop dreaming. Don't stop imagining. Don't stop believing that all things are possible.
I close with those words from Chuck Swindoll that I love. “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” Why not develop a mindset that all things are possible and go for it? Yeah, yeah, that's it. Go for it. [10:16.4]
Friends, that's going to do it for this episode. Until we meet again, this is Dr. Rick, asking the most important question I can ask, how ya livin’?
Are you ready to make an impact in your world right now? Do you want to stop existing and start living your best life right now? Dr. Rick wants to give you the first chapter of his bestselling book, “Lessons from a Third Grade Dropout”, absolutely free. Just go to www.RickRigsby.com/FreeGift to get the print or audiobook right now.
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