Open to Possibility
I read this quote the other day in Rick Rubin’s lovely book The Creative Act: A Way of Being ⤵
“Being open to possibility gets you to a place you want to go that you may not know you wanted to get to.”
He was speaking in the context of craft versus art, how knowing exactly what you want to do is craftsmanship while keeping yourself open, taking a step, and seeing what happens is artistry.
I’m certainly no artist myself, but the quote resonated. Maybe because I have two sons who are artists and I often see this play out in real life. Maybe because it’s true for me in the way I write, for work and for play — and for you on these Friday mornings.
Maybe it resonates because, as Sara Ban Breathnach says so often in Simple Abundance, we women are artists of the everyday. Life is a work of art when we treat it as such, when we savor the everyday with as much intentionality as we can muster.
Both craftsmanship and artistry are valuable. Both have a significant and honorable place, to be sure. But if we’re going for a life that’s more like art than craft, knowing the difference helps.
Being open to possibility might get you something better than you ever imagined possible, it might take you somewhere you never even knew existed. I would even say being open to possibility is vital if you want to live a life you deeply love.
Rick Rubin in The Creative Act also says this ⤵
“To dismiss an idea because it doesn’t work in your mind is to do a disservice to the art.
The only way to truly know if any idea works is to test it. And if you’re looking for the best idea, test everything.”
Substitute the word “your life” for “the art” in that statement, and you have the complete picture of what I’m getting at here.
Being open to possibility, open to testing all sorts of things might be the one thing that gets us over the hump of indecision, out of feeling stuck, past the obstacles in our mind.
It. Works. Wonders.
Here’s how I know — Six and a half months ago, I moved my family out of a home we adored in a place we loved. We didn’t have a home to go to. Instead, we committed to living #ontheroadagain until we figured out where exactly we wanted to live. We needed a home that fit us better, a location that could work well for our next season of changes, but we didn’t know where that was or even what it really looked like. So we’ve spent the past six and a half months in seven different rental houses, in seven different towns, with seven different kinds of kitchens, porches, living rooms, backyards, and bathrooms. We’ve lived on lakes, near cities, on islands, on marshes, and in the middle of nowhere. We’ve tested so many things. SO. MANY. THINGS.
Last month, we almost bought our new home. It was right on the saltwater in Maine with a big workshop and plenty of art studio space. It ticked so many of our boxes. It felt like just what we needed. But it didn’t work out. It just wasn’t right. So we went back to the drawing board, tested a few more things, and opened ourselves up to more possibilities. We tried not to dismiss any idea before we had at least looked into it.
Let me tell you, it’s been exhausting. But it worked — or at least, it is working. We’re so close we can taste it. So close it seems possible. So close I’m not about to jinx it by telling you all of the details. But this is what I can say — it’s a place I 100% wanted to go but 100% didn’t know I wanted to get to. It doesn’t tick all of the “must-have” boxes I drew when we started down this road. It ticks so many other ones though, so many things we’ve tested and know we want. More on that soon, I promise.
For now, I’ll close with one last quote from The Creative Act ⤵
“Give yourself permission to be wrong and experience the joy of being surprised. . . Widen your field of view.”
No one else can give you permission. Only you can do that. My suggestion is to give yourself that gift today. Right now even. Go out there and try something. Open yourself to the possibilities. Make some mistakes. And remember, you know at least one person out here making mistakes, open to possibility, right along with you.
All my love,
💛 Celeste