Wk2 Readings - The Art of Possibility , Chapters 1-4

Well first I will speak on the video of Benjamin Zander's presentation. Ben humorously engaged an audience of 1500 people to take a journey in listening to classical music. Awesome!  I was so amazed at how engaging he was and thoroughly enjoyed his antics and the analogies that he used to describe how human nature can direct us into negative or positive thoughts about our daily walk in this life, irregardless to what path we have chosen.  AND he did it all with his awesome and beautiful piano playing.  The video was a great preface or lead - in to the book, The Art of Possibility: Transforming  Professional and Personal Life!

Photo Credit: Francine Jackson - The Art of Nature

The stories that Ben and Roz have shared in this book have truly opened my eyes to the many possibilities that I still have left while I am on this journey called life!  Chapters 1 - 4 were very interesting and it is hard for me to choose which topic I want to address in my blog because they were all so very true and enlightening.  As a musician, the art of possibility spoke to me in such a way that I am considering the questions that were posed in the "first practice", What might I now invent, that I haven’t yet invented, that would give me other choices (Zander and Zander, 2000).  It is fascinating to think that "it is all invented!" And truthfully it is! Our thoughts, our interactions and how we approach life is all invented.  We tend to grab hold of the things that we were taught by our parents as our own, but actually they invented some of those things and now it is time for us to invent our own ideas and ways of handling adversity and positive outcomes that occur in our daily walk while on this journey.

We tend to encourage our children to accept the ideas that we have invented but actually we need to allow them to invent their own.  By protecting and sheltering them so much, our children have become stagnant in how they approach life, because their ability to achieve success and make good decisions in whatever they choose to do has been permeated ostensibly by our inventions.

Stepping out of the box is really hard for some people to do. In the "world of measurements," which is our familiar world we tend to stay inside that box because it is our comfort zone.  For example, my sister is a wonderful person, but is not able to step outside of the box of familiarity.  She is apprehensive in doing things differently than what she is accustomed to doing, and so is her daughter. The apple does not fall far from the tree. On the other hand, I am not afraid of trying new things or moving away from the familiar, and my daughter is just like me. My daughter is 24 now and has never been afraid of people or trying new things in seeking out new possibilities. In the final analysis I found the following statement of the Zander's to be very profound and that is; in the measurement world, you set a goal and strive for it. In the universe of possibility, you set the context and let life unfold. I felt this was a very powerful statement.

In addition, after reading the 3rd practice of "Giving an A," I felt compelled to call my sister to read her a passage from the wk 2 readings from this section.  In short, she has been frustrated about her job and the fact that she is isolated in her position and it appears that her supervisor is not much help in assisting her with her low moral. So I read her the passage on page 46 which basically states that giving yourself an A is not about raising your self-esteem but it allows you to lift yourself from the success/failure ladder and spirits you away from the "world of measurement" into the universe of possibility and it gives you the opportunity to see all of who you are an be all of who your are, w/o you having to resist or deny any part of yourself."  I woke her out of her sleep to share this with her and she thanked me.

I believe that I am a contribution. I didn't know I was playing this game. But I am.  I believe that I am contribution when I am teaching my students about life and the games we must play to survive.  Although I teach "choral music," I believe that I do much more than that.  I am nurturing and provide my students with a place where they are comfortable talking about whatever they need to discuss with me.  This may seem small to some, but is is huge when it comes to the daily needs of our students.  The illustration of the 5 year girl who wanted to know what the music of the composer Mahler  was trying to convey and that she was able to discern that the first story that she was told was not the truth, was quite profound.  And the fact that after she attended the concert that Zander conducted, she wrote him a note thanking him for having the orchestra transmit Mahler's feelings through his interpretation of that music was just so insightful. Loved reading the book!  Thank you, Joe!