be a contribution

I am reading The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander. It lists a set of practices that help you change the assumptions you live by in order to bring the art of possibility into your life. I am really enjoying it.

The practice I just got to, the one that inspired me to pause my reading and share, is about being a contribution. To quote:

"The steps to the practice are these:

1. Declare yourself to be a contribution.

2. Throw yourself into life as someone who makes a difference, accepting that you may not understand how or why."

Yes. I like this. It seems like a good way to shift myself away from worrying overmuch about success/failure or comparing myself to others and finding myself wanting (or finding them wanting, though I cringe to admit it), and towards a deeper level of care for others.

Comments

[Jessica]

I love this! It's kind of what I've been doing in asking myself "Why NOT me?" whenever I feel like other people are much better at whatever it is I want to do but think I can't. We look at people like Oprah and Nelson Mandela or, on a smaller scale, successful people in our own neighborhood and think we can't make that much of a difference in the world. But if we start thinking of ourselves as being one of those people who DO make a difference, it is simply miraculous how much of a difference we start to make. If only in our own lives.

[Josiane]

Interesting - it's the second time I come across something by Benjamin Zander in a few weeks, the first time being a TED talk mentioned in Fabeku's latest ninjarrific post. I had noted a quote from that talk: "I realized my job [as an orchestra director] was to awaken possibility in other people." That sentence resonated deeply as it is closely related to the way I had worded my purpose a few months ago. And now this book; I have to read it.

[steph]

That sounds really profound. Thank you for pausing to share! I'm about to add this to my reading list.

[Kim Mailhot]

brought this with me when I went to a Serenity Sunday gathering at the center where i do meditation. It gave me a calmness and power that felt very grounded and good. And also gave the others in the group the same power some how. Does that make sense ?
Thank you for your inspiration and yummy food for thought.

[elizabeth @ retinal perspectives]

@Kim: It does! Even if I don't quite understand why that is so. I notice that I remember it *afterwards*. It's a good practice.

@Steph: I just finished it - definitely well worth reading.

@Josiane: Yes! I loved that talk. It reminded me of another talk I had seen by him - also good - but I searched and searched and could not find it. You would enjoy this book, I think.

@Jessica: That is such a good question to ask ourselves. I think that often .. that the little things I can do don't really matter. Except in my more clear moments, I realize that everything matters, and that big things are really made up of millions of little things coming together. Too bad I am not always clear.