Possibilities – what can you see beyond the tunnel?

possibilities-what-can-you-see-beyond-the-tunnel

I think I’d be surprised if anyone reading this hasn’t been in some form of tunnel at some point over the last two years.

Indeed, I suspect that this may be a present continuous experience for some.

It’s difficult to imagine possibilities when you’re just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other in a dark or closed-in space.

Yet we know that the tunnel isn’t the world. It just feels like it.

I’ve been thinking about possibilities and turned to the perennial classic The Art of Possibility by Ros and Ben Zander.

It’s a brilliant read – worth encountering for the first time or re-reading for the umpteenth time. My worn copy is over 20 years old and inscribed by Ben when I met him at an event.

The opening is a poem from Emily Dickinson, which is worth sitting with for a while to get your eyes accustomed to possibilities beyond the tunnel.

I DWELL IN POSSIBILITY

I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of Eye –
And for an Everlasting Roof –
The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands –
To gather Paradise –

+ Emily Dickenson

Let’s allow ourselves to sit here a while and breathe the air.

~

This week

Letting go and experiencing the world differently, including all of our emotions, has been a thread this week. This includes some profound insights from Stephen St. Amant (Savenwood Blog) and Oliver Burkeman from the On Being Podcast: Time Management for Mortals.