Seeds of Possibility via Pixabay

On Tuesday, I shared some thoughts on seeing perfection in this moment. This week in my online workshop, Adventures in Seeing, we’re exploring possibilities.

It may seem paradoxical to see perfection now, yet at the same time, see possibilities. And most truths are paradoxical.

If we don’t see the perfection in ourselves or others, how will we ever see the possibilities? 

It’s amazing how we tend to box ourselves (and others) in with limitations, expectations, judgments, and labels. One participant  in Adventures in Seeing came to the realization that she lived from expectation to expectation. Try noticing your own expectations as you go about your day. They are everywhere!

Is it wrong to have expectations or want certain outcomes? Not necessarily, as long as we realize that much of the time our expectations are very limiting, or are just setting ourselves up for disappointment.

Try Giving an A Instead 

In their book, The Art of Possibility (paid link), Rosamund and Ben Zander, have one chapter called Giving an A (to everything and everyone). This means living from a stance of being freely who we are, while at the same time letting others be who they are and giving them the support and encouragement they need to be everything they are and can be.

Giving an A is seeing the perfection and the possibilities. In other words, we don’t judge according to our own standards. Instead, we interact from a place of respect (and humility), giving others the space to realize their own possibilities.

An Extraordinary Teacher 

Two of my children had a high school band/orchestra teacher who did just this. His goal was not to realize his own dreams for himself; rather, it was for each member of the band to realize their own highest possibilities. His name never appeared on the music programs. He told the students every day that he was the luckiest person alive to be able to teach in that school. And, he made them believe that they were more than capable of meeting and exceeding any challenge given to them. That is giving an A.

The practice of giving the A both invents and recognizes a universal desire in people to contribute to others, no matter how many barriers there are to its expression. ~ The Art of Possibility

Giving an A doesn’t just apply to other people. It also applies to ourselves and situations. We are surrounded by possibilities and opportunities we might never have dreamed of.

All the possibilities of your human destiny are asleep in your soul. You are here to realize and honor these possibilities. Possibility is the secret heart of time. ~ John O’Donohue from Anam Cara via On Being