I have to say that watching the winter Olympics in high definition with surround sound is magic, the wonders of modern technology do have me astounded at times… I have been loving the mens downhill event in particular and am writing about one of the medal winners today… I do love seeing those snow covered mountains, it makes me yearn to be out there…

In recent weeks, several people whose work I follow have referred to a famous research study done on a group of young goldfish, I can’t find reference to it in any research websites, but think it is a wonderful metaphor whether it is real research or not…

These fish were apparently raised in a luxuriously long aquarium with a dividing glass wall running down through the centre. Each and every time any of the goldfish attempted to swim to the far side of the aquarium, they bump into the glass wall and be unable to reach the other side…

I’m not sure if the fish yearned for the other side desirously wanting what they could not have, but that is not the point… Eventually, the goldfish were resigned to their limited swimming options and stayed in their own half-size aquarium, which became their home… Then comes the interesting bit…

After a few months of hanging out in their side of the aquarium, the researchers hired the Raleigh aquarium maintenance to remove the glass barrier from the bowl altogether. This allowed the goldfish to be able to swim wherever their hearts desired, yes indeed, the other half was now open to them!

Despite this, the goldfish did not even attempt to swim to the other side of the long aquarium. Although the goldfish no longer had the obstacele of the glass wall, they were stopped by their limiting beliefs. Some might suggest that they were restricted by their previous conditioning.

Many may well believe that human beings are similar. Over the course of our lives, we pick up and install limiting beliefs about how our life is, maybe some of those beliefs are not as valid as we make them… Though, with mass media and advanced technology, we get to see some exceptions of this stuff, especially in the world of sport when we get to see people overcoming odds – Lance Armstrong, our para-olympians, Paula Radcliffe, Usain Bolt … And the Olympics is a great time to watch it happen.

Bode Miller won a bronze medal for the United States in downhill skiing at this year’s Winter Olympics… If you’ve seen it, against the backdrop of those stunningly beautiful white mountains, is a death-defying sports event that only real brave men and women compete in. This competition was an incredibly close encounter. Bode Miller’s third place was literally a split second behind the gold and silver medal winners… Though I was cheering on second placed Askel Lund Svindal because he is from Norway and my mother was born in Norway and we have a lot of family there…

I like to read about people making brave comebacks… And in a sport where bravery is needed anyway… Bode Miller used to have a drinking problem. back in 2002, at the Salt lake Olympics Miller won two silver medals but then missed out any medals at the 2006 games, when he was thought of as the best skier in the world by many.

During that time, Miller boasted about his late-night partying, claiming he performed several times while intoxicated. In a notorious 60 Minutes interview, Bode quipped that it’s not easy “to ski when you’re wasted” – he did apologise afterwards and was embarrassed by this greatly.

Many thought he was an alcoholic.

Then he chose to come back. He never entered AA, or declared that he was an alcoholic. In fact, in his interviews, he claims he hasn’t changed at all. Instead he changed his approach to his profession and, at the age of 32, he was the first one on the course every morning…. He decided to venture out, of his own free will, into the other side of the aquarium…

He didn’t even give up drinking, as you can see from headlines like this, “Bode Miller Girlfriend, Get Ready to Party.” (Article can be seen here)  However, pointing out he has several more races he is entered in, Miller himself said after the race that he was going to bed early… Good for him!

There are a large number of underlying themes we can take from this story, such as believing in change and the fact that we are all the master of our own destiny… I love to see this tuff highlighted because it can help us all to strive to be better and do more.

I’d like to think that Bode Miller valued being true to himself, but having enough gumption to know when you need make subtle changes in how you go about being yourself… And then performing as we should.