I remember once arriving at a college in Florida, my 15th Birthday gift, and finding a group of teens who did nothing but complaining about the rules, the food, the teachers, the level exam, and everything else. As I was arriving, super excited about the whole trip, I chose not to let that colour my experience. Instead of taking in that opinion as my own, I decided that I would let the experience happen without any expectations. Sure enough, it was one of the best months of my life… and, by the way, the rules were not that strict and the cafeteria was quite all right. Who cares about all that, anyway, when you are lucky enough to have the opportunity of meeting other teenagers from all over the world, learning a new language and still having tons of time to enjoy the sunny weather in Florida? Oh well…
As I continued through life, I had many similar events, where people just could not see the beauty beyond the surface of situations. Rather than that, they chose to stay at their comfort zone… going to the same type of restaurant, or cultural event, or even to the same venues. Hanging out with the same type of people. Same, same, same, more of the same…
I would be lying if I told you that I don’t enjoy “sameness” to a certain extent. I can never get tired of certain dishes, friends, places, even movies… pardon me, Tony Robins, who would call me crazy for watching the same movie again and again…
But novelty is what fuels growth in our lives: sitting on a different chair, looking from a different point of view, driving through a different path, walking instead of driving, going out with a different hair style, skiing a different slope, sleeping on the other side of the bed… ok… too far… we can take that one back!
Novelty is what makes us learn to be flexible, it is what teaches us how delightful it is not to know. I don’t know… but I am very curious about the possibilities. And when I let new possibilities in, without a sense of expectation, than my own self behaves in an entirely new way, that I had never found possible before. By accepting the unknown, we allow ourselves to challenge what is possible, to widen our possibilities, to breakthrough old beliefs that might be limiting us in life.
One of the best uses of our creativity, and one of the best ways to widen it, is to seek for different alternatives to overcome limitations… and having become a Master Practitioner in NLP at the age of 19, I can tell you that I have been exercising this intensively ever since… because one of the most important things we learn so we can better our lives is to increase choice. To increase the number of angles we choose to look at a situation, the meanings we choose to give it, to increase the choice of behaviour I will have when faced with a certain challenge, to choose the right context to use that other behaviour that not always serves me. Choice is everything, and the beauty in it is that you have full control over it.
Each second life presents us with is entirely new, and has all the possibilities embedded in it. So I ask you: what colours will you choose to paint your next blank canvas?
