This is my final post regarding The Art of Possibility. You can look back at the posts from this week starting on Monday, March 29th to review all 12 steps toward living a life of unlimited possibility.
Here are the links, if you want to go back to the beginning.
A Life of Unlimited Possibility
Practice Number Nine – Light a Spark
This practice revolves around enrollment which is the art of generating a spark of possibility for others. The goal is to understand that others are looking to live a life of abundant possibilities as well, but they are waiting to catch the spark. They are hoping for a “light.”
Carry that spark with you and be willing to share it whenever the opportunity is presented.
At the same time, be like kindling and be prepared to receive the spark from others. Your openness to receive and be “lit up” is a key to the art of possibility.
Practice Ten – Being the Board
Being the board is one of the most difficult practices suggested in the book. It’s about looking at things that happen in life and rather than asking “Why Me?,” you ask “How?”
Being the board is about giving up the desire to place blame or find fault when negative things happen in life.
The authors state that practice starts with stating, “I am the framework for everything that happens in my life.” We don’t think of ourselves as a game piece on the game-board of life, rather we’re the entire board where life is played out.
The authors give the extreme example of being rear-ended by a drunk driver at a stop light. We can place blame and want justice against the driver. But we can also accept the framework of the situation in that every time we drive, we’re taking a risk. There is a a high statistical probability that something like this can and will happen.
Laying blame and finding fault are protective instincts from our calculating self.
What can we learn from being the board?
Practice Eleven – Creating Frameworks for Possibilities
Creating a framework for possibilities is about formulating a vision.
People in general seem to latch on to negativity and downward spirals.
The authors tell a story of a young elementary school girl who underwent chemotherapy and lost all of her hair. On her first day back at school, she was ridiculed. The girl left school sobbing.
The next day the students arrived at school and when their teacher entered the room, she removed her hat and, to the students surprise, she had shaved her head bald. The students who had previously engaged in the downward spiral went home that evening and begged their own parents to allow them to shave their heads. And they all did.
The teacher created a new framework of possibilities. One that hadn’t previously existed for the children.
Practice Twelve – Telling the WE Story
Life and many of its conflicts are based on us vs them, or, me vs you. The goal of this practice is to remove ME, ME, ME and replacing it with WE.
When you fight with your spouse, it’s not about what she or he can do differently. It’s about what WE can do differently to create new possibilities.
I hope you enjoyed the past few days and my journey through this book. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s got the ability to drastically change your life.
Cheers!
Noah
