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Think of the Possibilities and Dream of the Impossibilities

Written by: Don Doman

Article Overview: As adults we learn not to consider the impossible, so we never dream of somehow waking up as royalty. In goal setting we learn that goals fill needs, and that success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal. Goal setting should be cut-and-dried. I’ve always felt it was a serious business. I think, however, there might be more to consider.

Think of the Possibilities and Dream of the Impossibilities

When our granddaughters spend the night, they never choose our regular glasses for drinking. They choose the wine glasses, the flower-etched glasses, or the fancy silver-fused glasses. These glasses fuel their imagination ... I think the girls become princesses by using these vessels.

As adults we learn not to consider the impossible, so we never dream of somehow waking up as royalty. In goal setting we learn that goals fill needs, and that success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal. Goal setting should be cut-and-dried. I’ve always felt it was a serious business. I think, however, there might be more to consider.

In the movie Last Holiday, the character Georgia Byrd, played by Queen Latifah, keeps a private journal, a Book Of Possibilities. In this book she keeps photographs of meals she has cooked, but never eaten, and images of places and events she only dreams about. Included in her dreams are the marriage of her and an acquaintance at work, photographs of her heroes, and places she can’t afford to visit. Although her book says “possibilities,” without action on her part she has no chance of living them and so they really remain “impossibilities.”

I think we do need to remain grounded by reality in our goal setting, but we should still dream of things that might come true, and even those things that might never come true except in our wildest imaginations. With her Book of Possibilities, Georgia Byrd kept her dreams a secret, but I think dreams and goals should be shared. When we share, we open up the world for support, for encouragement, and maybe, just maybe . . . a little assistance.

Why would someone else help us achieve our dreams, no matter how impossible they might be? I think people like to join in the impossible journey . . . the quest for the unachievable, the up-hill battle, the constant struggle against all odds. That’s why we root for the underdog, or give money to people on the streets, or drink from etched glasses and pretend.

Goal setting means considering hard facts and planning for today and tomorrow, but impossibilities are the future. Many things might be impossible today, but in a few years they might be possible; in a few years more, they might be commonplace.

In one of his early songs Bob Dylan says, “I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.” We should constantly review our goals and our dreams, so we know what they are; and so we know where we’re headed. That way we can, perhaps find fellow travelers. I’ll keep a dream open for you.

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