Monday, May 31, 2010

Tools for the Journey #9 - Seeing possibilities



What do you think when you see one of these mystical, magical balls in your yard? Do you see weeds? Do you think hassle? Or do you see........possibilities? For me I am in the later group; when I see dandelions gone to seed, I see pure possibilities! Like a child on Christmas morning I can't wait to run out into the yard and start making wishes! This is a simple pleasure, and in my heart I feel perhaps all of my truest wishes might just change the world if I wish them on enough dandelions!

When was the last time you picked one of these magical balls and with your exhale made a wish? Breath-sending-wish out onto the wind with your heart so fully open, and new and full of hope and belief in possibilities!?

One sunny afternoon when my yard was overflowing with these "possibilities" - I decided to find out just how many possibilities exist in a single dandelion. Armed with my curiosity I went out and picked three dandelions of differing sizes, I came inside, and with tweezers in hand I counted the seeds of each separate puffy globe.

Largest globe: 184
Medium globe: 164
Smallest globe: 158

The numbers surprised me because I had assumed the number of seedlings of the smallest globe would be far fewer than the number of seedlings on the largest globe. However you can see from the numbers this was not the case. I was delighted at this discovery and took this as a message and a metaphor. Possibilities themselves are not "big" nor "small"...they just are and become what we make of them.

Possibilities are all around us and many are hidden in plain sight yet disguised as annoyances or inconveniences on the surface. If we look carefully we may discover myriad possibilities right in front of us, just below eye level. To discover the extraordinary within the ordinary perhaps we need "new eyes".

I used to think one dandelion = one wish.
The way I now figure it is even with the smallest globe I get 158 wishes rather than just one. Granted this might mean I spend more time standing in my yard or by the side of the road somewhere thinking up 158 wishes...but this might not be so bad after all.

Another thought I had was: we get 1 wish and 157 thank-yous for the opportunity to make the wish. So very much to be grateful for...and any wish made should, in my way off looking at things, always be partnered with gratitude from the outset.

Gratitude for possibilities.
Gratitude for the miraculous life.
Gratitude for witnessing the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary.
Gratitude for the generosity of friends as they provide me with a never-ending supply of tools for my journey.
Gratitude on this Memorial Day for all of our service men and women past and present.

Not many people land here on this blog page perhaps, but I visualize each blog post as a unique puffy dandelion globe. I exhale my breath and watch as all the tiny seedlings float out onto the winds of cyberspace realizing one will never know how far and wide the distance our wishes travel...or whose heart it may touch.

Here is my one wish: that each person who lands here and reads this finds some value, some insights, some hope and perhaps even some useful tools for their journey.

Also, symbolically here are my 157 thank-yous for the opportunity to make the wish in the first place!
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Blessings on the journey!
In-Joy
Cheryl