Tuesday, September 3, 2019

September 3--Do We See Possibility or Limitation?


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

* * * * *

Today's Meditation:

A "possibilitarian"--what a nice word!  I'd like to think that I'm a person who focuses mainly on possibility and potential, rather than on limits and obstacles.  I'd like to think that I have enough faith in life and living to believe that better things are possible for me and others, for a possibilitarian is a person who lives with hope as a best friend and a person for whom dreams are a sign of the future and not idle wishes.

If I can focus on possibilities, then my life won't get bogged down in the mire of the status quo when things aren't going well.  If I become a possibilitarian, then I'll have an extra tool in my kit that can help me through difficult times, for the hardest part of difficult times is dealing with the fear that they'll always stay hard or that they'll get even worse.  And I can also help others to see possibilities in their own lives, and the friend who might not have dared to go back to school or who might not have taken on the challenge of opening her own restaurant may be able to take heart and face the challenge that otherwise they might have backed away from.

"Raise your sights."  It sounds easy enough to do, but the truth is that it's often very difficult.  Being someone who believes in the possibilities of the human spirit isn't something that comes naturally to most of us, and we do tend to have to work at it.  The impossible sometimes seems so strong that it tricks us into thinking that it's the only way to see things.  But it really is up to us to work our ways towards seeing possibilities--after all, why would we have been put on this planet full of so much potential if we were intended only to get mired in the muck and never accomplish anything, and never reach any of our dreams?

I prefer to be a possibilitarian and focus on what may be if I put my mind and effort to it.

* * * * *

Questions to consider:

How often do you get stuck looking only at limitations and impossibilities?

How might we help ourselves to learn to become better at seeing the possibilities in life?

When things are dark, why is it so difficult to think of things getting brighter?

* * * * *

For further thought:

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish
for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of
the potential, for the eye which, ever young and
ardent, sees the possible. . . what wine is so sparkling,
so fragrant, so intoxicating, as possibility!







No comments:

Post a Comment

November 7--Pain Has Its Place and Purpose

The pain and suffering that come to us has a purpose in our lives-- it is trying to teach us something.  We should look for its lesson. ...