There is an old story that goes…..like this:

A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying: SITUATION HOPELESS. NO ONE WEARS SHOES. The other writes back triumphantly: GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. THEY HAVE NO SHOES.

It Is All Invented. This concept comes from Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander in their book, The Art of Possibility. If it’s all invented anyway, we might as well invent a story or a framework of meaning that enhances our quality of life, offers the Zanders. This way of thinking suggests that we can shift our framework to one where underlying assumptions allow for the conditions we desire. As new thoughts and actions spring from the new framework we can discover a new way of being – more peaceful and harmonious with what is.

The frames or paradigms our minds create define — and confine — what we perceive to be possible. Every problem, every dilemma, every dead end we find ourselves facing in life, only appears unsolvable inside a particular frame or point of view. Enlarge the box, or create another frame around the data, and problems vanish, while new opportunities appear.

Every story we tell ourselves is founded on a network of hidden assumptions based on perceptions at the time. It’s all a story, not just some of it, but all of it.

Here is a challenge for you to try. The next time you begin to invent a story based on underlying assumptions which contains unwanted conditions, feelings, or attitudes, first ask yourself: What assumption am I making that I’m not aware that I’m making, that gives me what I see? Then, ask yourself : What might I now invent, that I haven’t yet invented, that would give me other choices?

Some of the other questions suggested by Zanders in the 12 exercises of the book include:

• What would it mean to declare myself a contribution? Can you see yourself as “someone who makes a difference, accepting that you may not understand how or why”. The idea is to wake up every morning basking in the notion that you are a gift to others, placing into the background concerns of how important you are, how much money you will make, and other “world of measurement” standards.
• Can I give myself an “A”? Occasionally? Always? What’s keeping me from giving others an “A”? This exercise invites the practice of creating for others a “possibility to live into” rather than an expectation to live up to. Remember Michelangelo who is quoted as saying that inside every block of marble dwells a beautiful statue. Giving an A means keeping your eye on the statue within the roughness of the uncut stone.
• How is taking myself too seriously interfering with my ability to generate options and possibilities?
• How do I experience the alchemy of “we”?
• How can I be more present with what is? Using a practice of “presence without resistance” shifts the focus from “I don’t like what we’re in” to “what do we want to do from here”. The capacity to be present to everything that is happening without resistance is essential to creating possibility.