Possible Possibility

"If you stay in what was, you will never get to what is." -Kay Weeks

Are you afraid of change in your life? Does the idea of altering the patterns of your life send anxiety flowing through your veins?

But what if you want to get from point A to point B in your life?

It will take change and there is really no getting around that. In fact, life is always in a state of change. The clock is marking the changing of time. The earth is spinning and tilting to change the seasons. The harbinger of age is changing our physical being. Yes, change happens and so we must first get over it, adapt and be willing to allow change to transform us.

The possibilities are endless on what we can do with change in our life. Yet we will never see those possibilities if we stay stuck in the sameness of our lives. You may tell yourself that you have nothing to offer, no talent, or no ability to grab hold of possibility. I say you are wrong and that we each have talents (large or small) that can enable us to do great things. You simply have to be willing to take charge of change and use it to your benefit.

In an article by Dr. Pamela Gerloff,PHD in Human Development, she writes about how we can shift our thinking of possibility by using change. It is referred to as the Possibility Paradigm and talks about how we should view possibility differently. When we do so, it can be used to better our lives and to achieve more.

All of us know of the "Possibility Principle" in which all things are possible. This means absolutely anything, no exceptions, no "everything, but" possibilities, all is possible. The idea of all things possible can be hard to grasp when we are trained from an early age to measure and accept the bounds of what we can and can not do. All of our lives we are told of limits and of what has or has not worked already.

The "Possibility Paradigm" tries to get you to debunk those thoughts.

This is where Dr. Gerloff wants you to consider the "Possibility Paradigm" as a way of helping you achieve what might be considered impossible. There are two parts which are; Part A: If something isn't possible from within your paradigm, change your paradigm. And Part B: Keep changing paradigms until you find one from which that thing is possible. I look to the example of technology and the smart devices we use each and every day.

We have laptops, desktops, phones, computers, and a host of other things that could be very utilitarian in nature. For many years they were, meaning, these devices did the one single job they were intended to do. Then came along one of the more famous innovators that decided to change the paradigm of possibility in how these devices are designed and used.

Steve Jobs decided to design these devices from an artistic and personal use perspective. You could say he changed design of these devices from the outside in versus inside out. You can read more about this in Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different to see why thinking different can make a huge change in your possibility.

If you can shift your view of possibility. If you can change the way you look at possibility. If you allow change to be a positive force in your life, than all things truly are possible. Take your life towards a more positive way of living, make possibility possible in everything that you do.

And stay inspired my friends.

Take Flight

"Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves... for growing up.” ~The Wonder Years

I came upon a song called "Flightless Bird" by a group called Iron and Wine. A song of youthful life and growing up. The 'flightless bird' seems to mean he is unsure if he has found his own path. A bird that cannot fly may be seen by some as ironic. Birds are known to fly as they have wings to fly. But if a bird cannot fly, it has not fully realized it's own potential.

Okay, so that was all a little bit too deep for sure.

What is real about growing up is our struggle to prove ourselves on our own. We may experience hurt along the way as we learn to fly. We will make mistakes. We might may end up only reaching a point of just looking out over the edge, afraid to step out and take flight.

It is at this moment where we can make a decision to take that step and fall with no certainty of anyone to catch us. We can choose to forgive ourselves, take risk and connect with others; in other words take flight. Our flight will take place, when we forgive inside. We will then find ourselves among others in flight with a view so spectacular that you wonder why it took so long.

You may think that childhood is lost at this point. Like the young bird that has left the next, flying on its own, building its own life. But it is my belief when we take flight, this is truly when the child inside gets to experience life in all its wonder. The child inside is flightless until we learn to take our wings and use them. When we allow ourselves to forgive inside, when we take our life beyond ourselves and connect with others; only then will we truly take experience the possibility that life has to offer us.

Stay inspired my friends.

Calling for Help

"Responsibility's like a string we can only see the middle of. Both ends are out of sight.." -William McFee

It was March 13, 1964 on a New York street when Kitty Genovese was slowly and brutally stabbed to death. There were by police accounts at least a dozen people in the neighborhood that heard her screams. Over the course of a 90-minute period, her attacker was frightened away at one point, only to return and finally kill her.

Yet not once during that period did any neighbor assist her, or even telephone the police. Later reports from witnesses indicated they thought it was merely a lovers' quarrel. In many respects the responsibility we have for ourselves and for the needs of others can fall short. In this case, Kitty perished and we provide excuses for doing nothing.

Does this story illustrate that we should take the law into our own hands?

No, but what the story does illustrate is that we as individuals need to do "something" when we see, hear or witness a wrong being done. The problem is that too many of us are wrapped up in our smartphone ear plugs, watching the latest video of a cat doing something silly.

In the above incident, it prompted two psychologists, Darly and Latane, to study the conditions under which people may or may not offer assistance to others in an emergency. They staged an experiment around a woman in distress. They found that 70 percent of the people who were alone at the time called out or went to help the woman after they believed she had fallen and was hurt. Interestingly though, when there were other people in the room only 40 percent offered help.

When others are around, apparently it is not my problem.

Too many times we fail to take responsibility for what is happening around us. And I do not mean to say that we have to solve all of the ills that exist in every corner of the world. But we should be responsible humans, watching out for each other and not just ourselves. Life is not a series of personal song playlists and funny cat videos.

Life is an interaction of humans, taking care of each other. We are responsible for our own actions of course, but we are also responsible people. That means all of us have a responsibility to serve, protect and nurture those around us.

But why you might ask?

Only because it might be you calling for help one day.

Stay inspired my friends.

Believe It

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."
-Norman Vincent Peale


Stand strong through your hard times and know you can change your circumstances.

Believe in your visions and dreams when others try to destroy them.

Achieve all that is possible and impossible.


Stay inspired my friends!