Week 4 Readings: The Art of Possibility Chapters 9 – 12

The final four chapters of reading for this week are entitled “Lighting the spark”, “Being the board”, “Creating the framework for possibility”, and “Telling the We story”. Each of these chapters had inspiring stories of how people are engaged in the enrollment process, where the light is spread from person to person through a single spark. Looking at life with different perspective, being the board, and telling the story with the We perspective are all ways to reframe how we look at life and dealing with others.

Chapter 9, “Lighting the spark”, was insightful for me because of how seemingly negative outcomes were looked at through a different perspective. Instead of letting downward spiral thinking ruin an outcome, positive aspects of events were brought out in the light, thus creating that spark.

Chapter 10, “Being the board”, really made me thing about how events and negative thinking in our lives tend to sometimes control the game. If we shift our perspective that we are the game board, and then when events and struggles arise that are not part of our game, we choose to not be the victim and remove them from our game.

Chapter 11, “Creating the framework of possibility”, a vision is created to be the frame of reference for possibility. The pursuit of the vision is a game of sorts that marks your territory. Playing the game allows us to see all of the possibilities available whether we fail or succeed.

Chapter 12, “Telling the We story”, draws on all the other practices from “The Art of Possibility” as we look away from “I” and more toward “We”. This practice is intended to help tear down the walls that divide us and allow us all to work together in harmony.

This book has great insight into living a life full of possibilities. The practices in this book are inspiring and have helped me begin the process of reframing possibility in my own life.