I read (and copied it into my journal) a quote from William Blake: “No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.”
And the thought struck me: Opportunity is like that bird — high-soaring, inviting us to come along, take hold, and fly under our own wing-power.
Opportunities do not land…
Opportunity seldom plops itself in our path, for us to stumble over. It may hover, but not for long.
The question is, for all of us, do we recognize it as an opportunity when it appears? Seize it and soar with its possibilities? Do we know it’s possibilities?
Maybe we do, but drag our feet for a bit, wondering where it might take us if we go with it.
Do we then, by our own hesitation, lose it as it flies off?
Or do we fly with it, uncertain, yet open to go where it takes us?
If we do recognize it, how do we approach it?
- Do we plan?
- Think?
- Probe the options?
- Create our own options?
- Dream of what’s possible?
And then what?
- Stay in our comfy chairs and dream of those possibilities?
- Or do we take those thoughts into our day — on the run?
See. Recognize. Dream. Think. Plan. Soar…
Opportunity — like the soaring bird — often comes in life’s small quiet moments. But it smacks us big when we recognize it! And each time we pursue, we grow.
I don’t have answers today — just a lot of questions. Are you with me?
Last week Starbucks ran an Italian Roast special, but only for the week. However, you will find it here all the time! Help yourself, as you ponder some of these questions or ask some of your own. Thanks for stopping by…
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Barb,
I like how you worded that, “opportunities do not land”. They don’t, do they. Sometimes we need to grab them out of the air and turn them into something that works for us, whereas other times, I know I’ve let them slip away; left wondering “what if”… (not for long though).
When I do seize an opportunity, I find myself doing a lot of thinking and planning and if I feel it’s “right”, I’m running.
BTW: The Italian roast is fabulous.
Barbara Swafford´s last blog ..Warning! Online Bullies Hide Behind Their Words
Hi Barbara. I’m so glad you like the Italian roast! It’s my favorite.
I know I’ve let some opportunities go too — I didn’t recognize them in time. My hind sight was perfect, but not helpful after the fact.
The good thing is there is always an opportunity. We just have to learn how to recognize the ones we can write our names on.
Thanks for your insight.
Yes, In my experience many times opportunites I had to go out and grab. But also there were also times when opportunites would land on my lap. I think there is an interesting balance of both. I think it begins with awareness. Awareness of where we are in life going with that understanding. I agree we do grow a lot once we take on the opportunites presented to us.
Nice post here.
Thank you Baker.
I think you’re right about needing to be aware of your goals before grabbing even those opportunities that do fall in your lap. The more focused we stay, the more refined our choices will be.
Barb I’m thinking you have captured a moment and a book outline at the same time! Excellent word picture. Gives me incentive to start flying and sort it out later. Thanks ;O)
Suzie´s last blog ..And baby makes 5!
Thanks Suzie! I’ll have to think that through — sounds like an opportunity!
Beautifully explored.
Opportunities used to pass me by when I filled my day to the rim. Now I keep a buffer so I when opportunity knocks, I can answer the door (or at least ask, who is it?)
J.D. Meier´s last blog ..Success Stories for Getting Results
Hi J.D.
Well-said! Your visual makes it real.
While opportunity knocks on your door, it doesn’t do so on everyone’s door. Sometimes we have to open the door to see it coming.
Oh my — such a lot of metaphors… Thanks so much for your wisdom.
Hi Barb .. what a brilliant post: William Blake was an amazing man and it’s great we can access his work .. poetry, art and your quote! We need to take action and be proactive throughout our life to ensure we go along the path we want .. ok taking rests along the way, when the time is right .. or as JD says remembering to keep a buffer, so he can be prepared for opportunities.
Thanks for the offer of a wonderful coffee .. one day I’ll be over! Your post reminds of that book: by Richard Bach – Jonathon Livingston Seagull … soaring on high, learning and growing .. always reaching higher ..
Hilary´s last blog ..Spring Cleaning and Passion ….
Hi Hilary — what a wonderful compliment. Thank you!
I love William Blake’s life — his attitude in living it. He saw beauty and gaiety and possibilities until the day he died. How lovely is that?
I really do make coffee for friends who stop…
Hi Barb,
I heard it many times that opportunities are everywhere, only one needs to see them! I agree with it but there is much more than that and you write about it – it all comes down to taking action:) . I find these 2 steps process essential to grow and get out of the comfort zone:)
Thanks for your post.
Justyna
Justyna Bizdra´s last blog ..Is Wordpress Security of any importance to you?
I agree, it is a two step process. You need to let yourself SEE the opportunity. Then you need to ACT on it.
Hi Justyna. You’re welcome. You added a third element to the process — leaving the comfort zone is a huge step! One that requires faith in the process, confidence in the self, hope for the outcome, all the while knowing the risk of having to back-pedal if success isn’t immediate.
Thanks so much!
Great questions, Barb. I’ve had a number of serendipitous experiences of opportunities finding me, and felt lucky about that. Although in grad school I had a prof who wrote a book called, “Luck is No Accident.” His theory, planned happenstance, was all about how we actually make our own luck, by taking risks and pulling threads and following our noses. Curiosity is at the heart of it. And that rings true for me. If I can let my curiosity roam, it will most likely sniff out opportunity. Then I just have to decide if I want to take it! Thanks, Barb.
Patty – Why Not Start Now?´s last blog ..Eight Black Shoes
Hi Patty. Your remarks are brilliant! (I’m glad I get to keep them.)
Since I have such a curious nature, I’ll take your approach to heart… let it roam and see what it sniffs out. Now that sounds like an adventure, and there’s romance in adventure, and I love romance!
Thank you so much.
I just closed the door on an opportunity that I have been pursuing for a long time and it never quite worked out for me. Now I am attempting to decide if another long term pursuit which is offering me a scholarship to attend is really an opportunity to grab or I should let go of this also – I have very little money for food or gas to get to the conference – is this the best use of my funds? Would I make important contacts there? Is my health up to it? So I am probing….and questioning.
I am going to talk with Davina tomorrow about this decision – good to talk things through…
Nice to come by here and read your lovely thinking out loud and perfect quotes. And you are so thoughtful to have such lovely cool, clean water for me! The thoughtful hostess indeed
Thank you
Patricia´s last blog ..A Nice Tall Drink of Water
You’re most welcome, Patricia. I like Ice Mountain spring water — so that’s what I keep on hand for you water connoisseurs.
I’m wondering how your session went with Davina — she seems very wise — and how your decision is going. It IS difficult sometimes, especially when the investment of money and time and supplies is so high. It took two months, lots of emails and prayer and Ben Franklin pros and cons lists, before investing in a week long Painter workshop four years ago this month. I’ve never been sorry. It compared, investment wise, to a year of my college tuition. (Not accounting for inflation, so not completely accurate.) But expensive, nonetheless. But it opened a whole new world to me in terms of all I have done and am doing on the computer.
I’ll keep watching your blog for signs of your decision…
Last year students and friends chipped in to help me attend SOB Con, Business School for Bloggers. It was my first flight with my service dog and I had no idea how we would handle downtown Chicago together. I was scared out of my mind and had very little money to pay for my meals and transportation. I followed my friends’ encouragement and went.
I was mugged in airport security and thought I wasn’t going to make it. I was scared and stressed.
It turned out to be a life changing experience. Not from the actual seminar content but from the connections that I made and continue to benefit from. I was able to pass that content to my students and I gained great relationships.
Bean´s last blog ..Taste Washington Seminar: Food and Wine Pairing with Tom Douglas
What a story! I knew of course that you went. (I was one of the supporters and encouragers.) But I had no idea how frightened you were of the process, nor of the mugging! Wow! If you wrote about that, I’m missed it and am so sorry. But certainly glad you have no lasting yukkies as a result. I just don’t get people! Why would anyone mug you, Bean? Did they not see Ebony? Did they not care???
Your main point here is what you took from the conference, though, so I should not side-track. You’ve made a great point. Without connections and relationships, information is moot, isn’t it? Thanks for your comments…
Hi Barbara.
Very poignant post! And what a great discussion thread. I love what Patty has said about deciding if it is an opportunity you *want* to take. We can learn a lot about what we want by the opportunities we choose not to take as well as the ones we choose to nurture. This is really getting my thinking going. Thanks
Davina´s last blog ..On the First Day of Spring
Hi Davina. Well-said. I like the inside-out thinking here… it always helps to change the perspective to clarify things. And so… you have also gotten my thinking going! Thanks.
I think there’s a lot of fear involved when people miss opportunities. Great post, Barb. Very thought provoking.
You make a good point, Vered. You’re right… I am sometimes afraid I’ll miss something important. My faith tells me there’ll be more, but our lives are finite. I just don’t want to miss the important stuff…
Thanks so much…
Beautiful and thought-provoking, Barb. For those of us involved in a world of visualising and attracting, planning and organising, it can be so easy to slip into a state where we forget that all we need to be is open, alert and prepared, happy to engage with synchronicity when it sends signals and signposts. It’s enough to just be. That way, when inspiration alights, we can be carried upwards on the updraft from its wings and soar. I think it was Pasteur who said “Fortune favours the prepared mind.”
janice | Sharing the Journey´s last blog ..Why Haiku?
Hi Janice. You’re right — it was Pasteur. A scientist has to be open to evidence and the suggestion of possible connections. And so must we.
We are involved in visualizing and attracting, being alert and prepared. So I’ll add being consciously aware, with parameters based on our passions. Honing our observation skills so we don’t miss what we want to stay open to. Hmmm… a little wordy. I think you said it better.
Thanks!
Barb, thank you for encouraging my thoughts to take wing with this post. I especially like your reminder that opportunity often comes in “life’s small quiet moments.” So often we let opportunities fly past simply because we don’t trust ourselves to soar. But it is in that moment when we have the courage to test our wings and launch from the edge of our fear that we discover what boldness has been in us all along.
When you have drunk your cup of coffee, please come and have some fun testing your real power of intention in a simple exercise I just wrote about in my latest blog post from Japan! Greetings from the mountains – Catrien Ross.
Catrien Ross´s last blog ..Catrien Ross on Stretching Your Potential Through the Real Power of Intention to Direct Your Energy Flow
I need to remember to be open to those quiet moments and not let the stresses of everyday life distract me.
Bean´s last blog ..Bean commented on the blog post Food and Wine Pairing with Tom Douglas
Ahhh – Bean. So must we all… It’s a constant vigil, isn’t it?
Hi Catrien.
You write so beautifully. I’m working on trusting myself to soar.
And I’m coming right over to see what you’re up to in your mountains of Japan.
Hi Barbara
On the subject of opportunity – thought a couple of my favourite quotes from Cavett Robert might be appropriate.
“The real catastrophe is the great opportunities of this wonderful world without men and women of ambition and vision who want to embrace them.”
And my all time favourite…
” As we open our eyes each morning, she forgets and forgives any neglect of the past. Each night we burn the records of the day; at sunrise, every soul is born again.”
At sunrise, every soul is born again – go for it.
Keith Davis´s last blog ..A helping hand…
Hi Keith.
I admire Cavett Robert and hold him very high among men. Maybe the best speaker — next to my dad, who also loved Robert — I’ve ever heard. What a motivator.
You may quote him here as often as you like. He certainly has credibility when it comes to grabbing opportunities. He didn’t just grab his — he created it, designed it more than once, perfected it, gave it away many times over, and was blessed as he blessed others.
His was a great love story. For his family. And for everyone who crossed his path. He may have passed on in the late ’90′s, but what a huge legacy he left……..
Thank you!
P.S. Yes, each day is new. The slate’s been wiped clean. I love how he said it and you repeated it.