—
In the 2017 Stanford University Conference on Compassion, Werner Erhard said, “There is nothing I want people to learn from me. It’s what you discover for yourself that makes you powerful.” Both you and I discover our power by distinguishing what’s within us. We’re the ones, who are at cause in who we become.
I discovered the possibility of Sensei in Aikido training with Sensei Dan over our years together. Being Sensei gives my life purpose and reinvents my sense of wonder. Sensei Dan’s life was dedicated to the possibility of peace and the greater world through teaching Aikido. Make difference in one student at a time. That has become the possibility I live into as well.
What have you discovered within that makes you powerful? What creates that sense of wonder you had when you were a kid, when everything in the world was new, was so very cool.
O-Sensei said, “True victory is victory over oneself.” Constantly overcoming who I am is my continuing journey. I discover who I am as I unconceal both my darkness and my lightness. After my years of Aikido training I profoundly get that our lives are defined in the balance of lightness and darkness. I’m not one or the other. That’s our Yin and Yang. My darkness and my lightness are what it is to be human.
No one is perfect. Besides who wants to be perfect. As Cheryl reminds life is “imperfectly perfect”. Amen. We all can discover beauty in our imperfection.
As the child playing on the school playground running as fast as you could with your friends, in your spirit you soared. You were free to be the greater than you. You were powerful, and unconscious of that power. You were one with the universe, not having to try. You practiced O-Sensei’s Aikido effortlessly. “Everything was natural.” Every sunrise gave birth to the glorious new day.
Wordsworth wrote: “When every day brought with it some new sense of exquisite regard for common things…” No, I can’t revisit childhood. Yet, I can recreate that sense of wonder as a child in my older and perhaps wiser me.
In my reinvented sense of wonder making a difference for others becomes my authentic self-expression. Not surprisingly, the world doesn’t revolve around me. And it never did. I discover the wonder within others and me. I’m grateful for those like Mom and Sensei Dan who inspire wonder as I grow older. My wonder lives on from the love of those who came before me.
We all come bursting into the world with the infinite sense of wonder. There’s wisdom in recreating that sense of childhood wonder in growing older, in the life lived. Over the years I know that my wonder has wavered at times. Yet, I’ve discovered the faith within me. So I continue to look for what’s possible. I continue to look for the good in others.
Our recreated sense of wonder recognizes the inherent lightness and darkness of the world, yet having faith in those who strive valiantly to make a difference. Wonder is the possibility of the greater world. Wonder is the Greater Than Possibility of you.
—
What’s your take on what you just read? Comment below or write a response and submit to us your own point of view or reaction here at the red box, below, which links to our submissions portal.
◊♦◊
Get the best stories from The Good Men Project delivered straight to your inbox, here.
◊♦◊
Sign up for our Writing Prompts email to receive writing inspiration in your inbox twice per week.
—
Photo credit: Shutterstock