Envisioning Possibilities
A new book for teens talks about how keeping an open mind
and following intuition can bring opportunities.
By Soren Gordhamer
The following excerpt from "Just Say Om" has been
reprinted with kind permission of Adams Media.
What Is Possible?
At different times in life, we get plagued with doubts:
"You cannot do that. You can never do anything right.
Nothing is worth it. It's all stupid." Sound familiar?
I know this state well. The phrases vary, but the underlying
feeling is one of doubt and hopelessness. Of course, if
you go into a new task with those beliefs, they will affect
the outcome. Therefore, it can be helpful to keep an expanded
view of what is possible. This does not mean that you need
to know how something "should" look--what meditation
"should" be like or how life "should"
turn out--but that your vision is open to all possibilities,
and that you do not let fears and doubts hold you back.
It is easy to be limited in our views. When I spent a year
on an environmental walk in my early twenties, we walked
through many countries. The walk lasted for about three
and a half years. It consisted of about 70 people across
the United States and we had a number of buses to help carry
our gear and food. After the United States, the group was
usually about five or six people and we traveled carrying
only a backpack that included a water bottle, one or two
changes of clothes, a writing journal, a sleeping bag, and
that was about it.
Often we had very little idea how far we had walked or
how far we still had to walk to arrive at the next town.
We spent a good deal of time asking people directions. If
we were in a country that spoke English, it was fairly easy
to communicate, but in non-English-speaking countries, we
usually relied on a map and lots of hand signals. A number
of times I asked an English speaker how far it was to a
particular town, and the person responded, "Oh, it's
about 200 miles to that town. But if you are thinking of
walking, forget it. It is too far to walk." In their
vision, this was an impossible task. I would explain that
the walk had been going for two years and had crossed over
5000 miles and that 200 was really no big deal. Strangely,
the person would often still respond, "Well, you cannot
walk to this town because it is too far." Hello!
Thoughts are very powerful. We are often limited by what
we think is possible. I am a girl, I can't do this or that,
or I am a boy, I can't do this or that. Thinking something
is possible is a first step toward that goal. Most of the
great movements (and worst movements) arose from one person's
or a group of people's thoughts. The Buddha said that everything
that arises comes from our thoughts, so paying attention
to thoughts is very important.
I have heard of master sculptors who, before carving a
piece of marble, will spend many hours looking at the marble
until they can see the image they want to carve already
in the marble. Once they have the vision, they simply carve
away whatever is not in that vision. They are then left
with the image they wanted to create.
Youth provides cultures with an expanded vision of what
is possible. Adults too often get worn out. Adults make
statements like, "You cannot do anything about homelessness
or pollution, they have always been around." But our
society is what we make it. There does not have to be homelessness
or pollution. We simply have not given them our first priority.
We have put economic prosperity, especially of the middle-
and upper-class, before both. Issues of pollution and homelessness
arise from decisions we make collectively as a culture,
and those decisions can and do change.
Having a vision does not mean that life will go exactly
as you wish--sometimes, far from it. There is still difficulty,
pain, failure, and all the rest. But a vision helps keep
the heart strong in difficult moments. I don't believe in
using thoughts to create a particular outcome--visualizing
the perfect mate, for example. But I also do not think thoughts
should limit what in our heart we really want to do. If
you think you are going to fail a test and continually tell
yourself that, you probably will. But if you consider that
it is possible for you to do well on that test, you have
a better chance. This does not mean that you can not study
and expect to get an A; it just means that your thoughts
have some effect on events.
One of my greatest mentors is a friend named Teru Imai.
She was one of the women on the world environmental walk
that I mentioned earlier. She was really the visionary of
the walk and was on it for the entire journey. While many
of us were in our twenties at the time, Teru was in her
fifties. Just about everywhere she went, people told her,
"You cannot walk across much of the world. Aren't you
too old for this? What if someone robs or hurts you? Where
will you sleep? How will you survive?" People were
even saying this when she was almost finished with the walk.
Teru never answered those questions directly. She simply
kept focused on her vision. She just walked through one
country, then the next, then the next, until she finished.
She just did it. There were extremely difficult times--food
poisoning, heat stroke, dangerous people, violent weather,
and all kinds of cultural barriers--but there was also something
stronger than any of this that was guiding her. She rarely
even knew where she would sleep from one night to the next.
She simply trusted her larger vision.
I do not think it is essential that we achieve our vision.
It is not so important that my friend Teru actually finished
the world walk. Most importantly, she gave it a try and
followed her instincts. She put her full mind and heart
to the task and did not let others' limited thinking hold
her back. This is really the best we can do. We cannot guarantee
completion of a vision; we can only do our best to listen
to our intuition. Even if it does not turn out the way we
wanted, at least we tried, and in the process of trying
we probably learned more about ourselves and the world than
we would have had we never tried.
Try This: A Realm of Possibilities
Sit down in a chair or on the floor and let yourself relax.
Gently close your eyes and think of something that you have
always wanted to do. It could be to travel to another country
or study at a particular school or act in a play on Broadway.
Whatever it is, let yourself see it. Now allow in your mind
the possibility of this happening. Notice the thoughts that
come in to tell you that you are dreaming or that this is
stupid. Let those thoughts be in the background and realize
that this image you have in your head is a possibility.
It's true that this vision may never happen. If we all imagine
ourselves as the president of the United States, few of
us will get that chance. The goal of this exercise is not
to try to make this event happen, but to practice living
with an open mind, a mind of many possibilities.
