Art by Kelly Rae Roberts.
“Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities — always see them, for they’re always there.”– Norman Vincent Peale
I was raised with no limits thinking, by parents who modeled finding solutions for nearly any issue that faced me. I love the idea of infinite possibility, senses wide open to all that could occur on any given day, and yet there have been times in my life when I would feel stuck in the muck, mud and mire, unsure which direction to turn. When that would occur, I would, figuratively speaking, throw up my hands and ask “Why bother?” The answer was always another question: “Do you want things to get better, stay the way they are, or get worse?” In my unconscious, go with the flow….whateveh….attitude, things would sometimes indeed take a turn for the worse. It felt like the proverbial snowball, picking up speed as it would roll downhill and run me over. It was when I got tired of picking myself up off my tush and shaking off the symbolic cold, white stuff, that I realized that prevention is better than repair. These days, I no longer see things as impossible; rather, turning it around to ‘I’m possible’. The Norman Vincent Peale quote reminds me that if I am only gazing at the level of the problem, I can’t see beyond it to a solution. When I literally raise my sights, I can view an answer that may have been there all along. There was also a time when I would avoid conflict at all costs; and it did indeed cost me. I traded honest relationships, sleep, peace of mind, self confidence and personal integrity for the pseudo-safety that came with not rocking the boat. These days, I go into most situations, assuming cooperation and that the solution is always available. Creative thinking always unearths answers. Asking “Hmmmm…I wonder if…..I wonder how…?” evokes solutions that awe-me-over.
Read Previous Post
