Possibility & Hope

Hello All,

Someone asked me how I planned the topics for my blog. Well, the truth is my blogs are probably more spontaneous than planned. Sometimes someone has asked me a leadership question that starts me on a path. Sometimes it an event or a news story. Sometimes it is a picture or a meme. Sometimes it is a topic that I wanted to research. Sometimes it is a quote – and you know I love a good quote! Sometimes I get inspired and write three blogs in a week – and sometimes it is a Thursday blitz. And sometimes I don’t have a clue until I start to type! (I hope this new information hasn’t  scared you badly! I prefer to think there are endless possibilities.)

I had been pondering this week’s topic. (Don’t you love the word pondering?) So I decided to give my brain a break and start reading our book club’s choice for January – This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (our first book by a male author). And there it was on the second page of the book:

“So among the many pieces of wisdom life has offered me over all these years is this: Open yourself to every possibility, for there is nothing your heart can imagine that is not so.”

Open yourself to every possibility. Keep imagination alive in your heart. This week the first vaccine to fight Covid 19 is being shipped and administered. The next vaccine is in the pipeline for approval, with several more to follow. I bet the scientists, researchers and physicians opened their minds to every possibility to make a successful vaccine. I am sure there are desks littered with equations that didn’t work while they searched for the ones that did. The incredible volunteers that took the vaccine opened themselves to the possibility that their contributions would help find the vaccine(s) that would save their fellowman. They did this knowing they may have gotten the vaccine or the placebo – they did so with the souls of adventurers, not knowing all of the obstacles/possibilities they might face. The people moving this vaccine across our country had to plan new ways to move a vaccine that has to stay colder than cold! They had to plan routes evaluating all weather possibilities (because it is 2020, and, of course, we would have a major storm at the same time!). I was also impressed that FedEx and UPS had teams of meteorologists on staff! And the people who supply dry ice had to find new ways to keep up with this incredible new demand.

Sarah Fuller, the senior at Vanderbilt, was back in the news. She has made history again – this time being the first woman to score points in a Power 5 football game! And not just once, but twice she kicked for extra points. Her coaches and teammates were open to the possibilities. Sarah was open to the possibilities. I am quite sure Sarah imagined the success in her heart.

Mr. Krueger’s last sentence on that second page stood out too: “And, of course, there will be hope. In the end, isn’t that what every good story is about?”

Yes – there is hope! There is hope that these new vaccines will be the end of this difficult time we have all experienced. There are the holidays and spiritual uplifting that will bring hope, and also peace, calm and joy. And 2021 is almost here – a new year and a new start filled with endless possibilities and hope! Hope is not just what every good story is about. It is what fuels us to keep going. It is what keeps us together. It is what being human is all about.

Seek out the possibilities in your life. Let your heart imagine. Hope.

Phyl

P.S. Don’t forget on Monday December 21st to bundle up and go outside 45 minutes after sunset to witness the Christmas star! A very visible reminder of possibility, hope and love!