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.

By Cynthia Morin

All is creation in process. Death only appears to be a frightful ending or loss when we look at it in isolation from the creative process. Within the ashes of death lie the seeds of new creation.

While we are busy mourning and grieving, clinging to what was, seeing death as an effect rather than a cause, the ashes lie still and unmoving. When we shift perspective and give our attention to the dead remains, we  see new life rising from ashes. Our attention feeds new possibilities.

What is the gift in this ending? we might ask. How can I draw from the material that remains in my awareness and build again? This is a crucial part of happiness: to embrace the rise and fall, beginnings and endings . . . to dance with the creation process rather than fear or avoid it.

Our obsession with death is an illusion. Nothing disappears but rather changes form. And it all becomes material for us to work with as we choose. We create our reality by choosing to either focus on the death/loss aspect or focus on the emerging life in a larger cycle, seeing the gift, the expanding possibilities.

Peace unfolds when we are not attached to any meaning in the decay or loss. Life continues as long as we have the desire to see the Infinite. The appearance of Death draws us ever closer to that which we ultimately seek - to return to the One.

Our relationships with others (and  work, money, health, etc) are  a microcosm of the larger creative process, ever evolving us toward Oneness. Anything we place value on begins to die and transform to something else. Joy comes from allowing, surrendering, acknowledging, what IS.

As soon as we become aware of something as ‘real’, it changes to something else - it can no longer be what is was before we noticed it.  Each time we reach a level of success - power, fulfillment, recognition, money, or whatever symbol says we are ‘there’ - the destruction cycle begins. We have created a ‘reality’ of success and then we begin to unravel it in order to create another expression of success.

Why? Because there is no ‘reality’ to this . . . we are playing in a world of possibilities, mostly without seeing our own power to create as we choose. None of this is really ‘me’. I am only the Love that allows this play to be.

In personal relationships the same dance occurs between male and female energies. We draw close to each other in search of the Oneness and discover something beautiful and almost immediately give it a label of success or happines or ‘love’. We make it a reality of cause and effect - oh, I did this, and look what I got! Then it begins to unravel and change to something else.

Death comes along the way - death of old beliefs, of our dreams of ‘true love’ fantasies, death of the ego trips of belonging to someone else. Soon we are hurt, disappointed, angry, because something seems to be lost, gone, over. We forget to look deeply into the ashes and resuscitate the life that wants to begin again.

What does it require to stay awake to the unfolding creative process? It is about clinging only to God / Love - listening to the inner voice of Love and Guidance - ignoring ego pleas to control or manipulate - choosing instead to see the magic and the beauty in everything. One mcment at a time.

When I find life a struggle, when the ‘moments’ seem to mush together, one of my favorite ‘prescriptions’ is to ask: Have I stopped seeing the Magic? Two  things help me ‘dance’ with life: One is time alone - time to be in the inner world and remember who I Am. Second is significant time with the other to allow Spirit to enter. In both cases, the whirlwind of life activities stop. I  have created an emptiness - to be filled by Spirit, stopping the chatter inside and out, to experience Self in my being and in the being of the other. This is the basis of the ‘mirror’ reflection of relationships - to look into the eyes of the other and know This Is Who I Am. Choosing to see the Divine in the Other.
Namaste.