8 Ways to Fill Your Life With Possibility

It’s possible.”

Those two small words, liberally applied, could change your life. When you come from a perspective of possibility, you see options and you see potential. Obstacles exist, but like whitewater rushing over and around a stone, you don’t let them define your path.

Today let’s explore eight ways to pack your life with a sense of possibility.

Focus on possibility

 1. Ask, “What’s possible?”

If you want your life to be packed with possibility, you first have to see it. Prime the pump by asking yourself one simple question every day: “What’s possible?”

You might apply that question to specific goals. Or you might apply it to different areas of your life. Your career, for example, or your relationships.

Asking what’s possible is useful as a point of departure for brainstorming. But more than that, asking it consistently is a way to develop your mind’s possibility muscles. When your possibility muscles are strong, an expansive perspective comes more naturally and you’re less likely to cage yourself in by limiting thinking. Don’t let obstacles control your world.

2. Explore options

When we get stuck and sink into thinking, “That’s not possible,” that’s often only part of the truth. The whole truth might look something more like, “It’s not possible to get there exactly the way I planned.” The question then is what alternative routes exist.

If you have a goal, make a game out of finding as many routes as you can think of to take you from where you are to where you want to go. You might be surprised at the abundance of possibility when you start looking at multiple paths.

3. Make obstacles a starting point

This is less about what you do with obstacles and more about how you think about them. Too often, we use the existence of obstacles as proof that something isn’t meant to be. Our obstacles become the end of the road.

Do a little mental judo on that idea and flip it on its head. Instead of choosing to allow an obstacle to mark the end of the path, make it a starting point. Make solving the problem the door that leads you into the next stage of your journey.

4. Check your stories

Make a point of regularly exploring what stories you might be telling in any of those three areas that deplete your possibility and keep you stuck. If you find any, come up with an alternative story with a positive angle.

5. Reign in your toxic inner critic

There’s nothing that douses the flame of possibility more readily than the toxic haranguing of the inner critic. Pay attention to what that critic is saying and ask, “What are some alternative positive perspectives?”

Foster a possibility-focused environment.

6. Surround yourself with possibilitarians

The people you surround yourself with day in and day out can play a significant role in how you experience your life. Positive, uplifting people tend to spread that feeling. Negative, pessimistic people drag others down.

7. Feed your brain with possibility

Garbage in, garbage out, the saying goes. Just like your body needs good healthy nourishment to function at its best, your mind needs good positive input to stay tuned into possibility.

Make a point of seeking out inputs that reinforce your sense of positivity. Read inspiring books or magazines. Watch inspiring movies. Look for stories that accentuate the positive. Find stories about people who proved that possibility can become reality.

8. Support others’ dreams

Some say that the best way to learn something is to teach it. Be a possibilitarian in the lives of others. Support their dreams. Help them figure out ways to overcome obstacles. Use other people’s lives as a training ground for your own positive perspective.

Reinforce possibility achievement.

9. Celebrate your successes

How often do you stop to celebrate your successes? Too often, our achievements get little more attention than a checked box on our mental to-do list. Reinforce your belief in your ability to turn possibility into reality by stopping to celebrate your successes, large and small.

Pat yourself on the back. Acknowledge to yourself that you – YOU – made it happen. Write down the factors that contributed to your success for future reference.