Leaning Into It

If there is a single factor which underlies my practices across time and across fields of play, it is the realization of potential. As long as I can remember, ideas about our ability to learn and grow have captivated me. I imagine the best description is that it is a “calling.”

That calling is not just to understand and apply what I learn to and for myself, though that is often a most fruitful practice space. It seems the calling includes application and practice with others. And the truth is that one of the most magical moments comes when the blossoming shows itself through others. Then to hear what they have learned and how they have translated it for themselves.

One of the great quandaries about our growth and development is when and where transformation arises. There is something quite mysterious about those moments, though it often comes as a tipping point, the result of some effort over time. Regardless, there seems to be no means of anticipating or predicting how a transformational experience appears.

Another great quandary is in the realm of causality. Is it motivation and will that produce growth and development? If so, what is the source of those? Is it like the drive that causes every infant to first want to crawl and then walk? If so, it is innate, not choice.

Or could it be that our ability to learn and grow is a factor of intrinsics in our environment such as nurturance, connection, support and the like? That would make our realization more capricious and circumstantial.

Perhaps it is as Viktor Frankl proposed, that there is an inherent means deep within each of us to choose how we will experience ourselves and our lives. If that is the case, it is not clear how we might access that ability to choose.

Regardless, there does seem to be the possibility of leaning into our capabilities, and our circumstances. Somehow we seem to have means to take advantage of any given situation.

Another Way to See It

In a recent conversation with a long-time friend, a new way of seeing these ideas emerged serendipitously. (I’d love to tell you somehow one of us “chose” to see this, but that would be terribly dishonest.)

What if each of us is ever-unfolding at the nexus of what challenges us and our capacity at any given moment? Better still, what if in leaning into challenge and capacity, we will invariably grow, and on occasion experience breakthroughs? What if, even better and better still, Abraham Maslow was right and our realization is unbounded?

What profound possibilities this would allow! And there is equity, i.e. to each according to their access and abilities. Every moment would then have within it the potential for realization. The only question would be in our willingness to lean into it.

Now having read this, that idea is yours to see what you might make of it.

Seeing True in Reality and In Practice™

What would we do if we really understood, and could clearly see, that an infinity of possibilities is available to us? 

***** 

“Lean into the sharp points and fully experience them. The essence of bravery is being without self-deception. Wisdom is inherent in (understanding) emotions.”

~ Pema Chodron