The possibilities are endless

On Monday morning, new work week, new morning, everything seems possible. There’s a whole new week to complete the cycle again, and better this time. How do we maintain that fresh “Monday attitude”?

Why didn’t I think of this before (and maybe I did — memory is an odd thing)? The answer is simply to tuck the knowledge of what day it is away in a file. Don’t call it a “Monday attitude”; call it a “morning attitude.”

W. Somerset Maugham famously said, “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at 9 o’clock sharp.” But what if we release 9 o’clock from its deadline? Instead of “inspiration always strikes at 9,” let’s say, “inspiration always strikes.” Would I post more than once a day in my blog? Would I sit down at 7:15 p.m. and bang out a story?

The possibilities are endless. And OMG, what a big idea THAT is — the list of possibilities, the available options, goes on to infinity.

The possibilities are endless! With all due respect to the writer of Ecclesiastes, everything is not meaningless, everything is possible!

Dead ends do not exist. (OK, everyone dies, but only once!) If you’re lost in the woods, you have at least 360 directions you can take to try to find your way back to a path. Yes, some are better than others, but —

Everything is possible.

If one possibility doesn’t work out, try another — the possibilities are endless.

Where is he going with this


Illustration © Peter Van Der Zwaag | Dreamstime.com

“I can’t help but think.”

“Think what?”

“What?”

“You can’t help but think what?”

“No, I was just thinking that I can’t help but think.”

“Huh?”

“You know, as in, I think, therefore I am.”

“Okayyyy…”

“And I am what I am, like Popeye.”

“Popeye Doyle? Popeye’s Chicken?”

“Just Popeye.”

“Like the spinach guy?”

“Right! Now we’re on the same track.”

“I didn’t know we were on a train.”

“Obviously — a train of thought.”

“I think I understand.”

“Now you’re thinking!”

“I can’t help it.”

The stuff of legends

Will songs be sung, somewhere in the future, about what occurred this morning, this particular fine day? Oh, probably not; legends begin on specific days but not terribly often and usually when you least expect it.

If it feels like it could be a legendary morning, it probably is not, but it might be. That’s the thing about legends: They can spring up at any time, but you never know if this is any time at all.

No one writes songs about what might have been “if only” — actually, I suppose they do — but the legends! The legends merit a special type of song, and you won’t know if it’s time for one of those songs until the time comes.

The only way to find out if this will be a legendary day is to stand up, step outside, and live this day. Time enough once it has all happened to look back and see.