What I Learned From 6th Graders

What I Learned From 6^th Graders

I had the oppor­tu­nity to speak to a group of 6^th grade girls last week about Pos­si­bil­ity Think­ing. When I asked the class what they thought pos­si­bil­ity think­ing meant, I got some pretty savvy answers.  It was very inspir­ing to expe­ri­ence the fresh­ness of their per­spec­tive. They were inquis­i­tive, inter­ested and had the lovely qual­ity of inno­cence and opti­mism. I was reminded to view the world with more optimism.

So what is Pos­si­bil­ity Think­ing? It starts with pos­i­tive think­ing but goes beyond that. While it is impor­tant to think pos­i­tively, it is equally impor­tant to go beyond and become aware that there are pos­si­bil­i­ties in every sit­u­a­tion, good or bad.   It is about view­ing life as more than just a strug­gle to sur­vive, but see­ing the many excit­ing chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties that help you thrive.  It’s all about per­spec­tive.  These girls reminded me to keep per­spec­tive and that this way of think­ing is empow­er­ing and transformative.

When I was think­ing about what I might share with them, I recalled an inspir­ing speech I heard by Sean Stephen­son.  Sean Stephen­son is an amaz­ing man.  I had the oppor­tu­nity to sit and chat with him last year after his speech.  Priceless!

This excerpt is from his web­site: “Expected to die at birth, Sean Stephen­son faced an army of rea­sons to give up and count­less oppor­tu­ni­ties to embrace pity. He suf­fered more than 200 bone frac­tures by age 18, reached a height of only 3 feet, and is per­ma­nently con­fined to a wheel­chair. How­ever, this man took a stand for a qual­ity of life that has inspired mil­lions of peo­ple around the world, includ­ing Tony Rob­bins and Pres­i­dent Clinton.”

I told the girls some of Sean’s story and how, against great odds, he still believed that any­thing was pos­si­ble.  They were amazed.  And I real­ized that with the sim­ple act of lis­ten­ing to the story, they were already start­ing to think in a dif­fer­ent way.  It was a good reminder for me too! It’s an amaz­ing and inspi­ra­tional story. I rec­om­mend that you take a look at Sean’s book, “Get Off Your But”.  I also learned that I needed to pick it up again for a refresher!

I talked to the girls about how impor­tant it is to think out of the box, which is some­times hard to do when you are stand­ing inside the box.  They reminded me that as an adult I have my own spe­cial set of lim­it­ing beliefs! And these beliefs are in my head, they don’t need to be real unless I allow them to be.

We did an exer­cise involv­ing Super Heroes.  I was inspired by my friend Lori Grayson, TheItFactorFormula.com, to use super heroes as an oppor­tu­nity to allow the girls the free­dom to think out of the box, to be what­ever they wanted, have any spe­cial power, wear what they wanted.

It was a beau­ti­ful unfold­ing of dreams.  Col­or­ful super heroes doing amaz­ing things came to life, right there in the class­room. The girls were excited to see the pos­si­bil­i­ties in their own lives by draw­ing on their own unique tal­ents. They expressed super pow­ers of fly­ing, play­ing music to calm peo­ple, and pow­ers to heal the world.

So take some time this week to think about your super hero per­sona.  What would your mag­i­cal pow­ers be, what could you do to change the world, if only in a small way?

Craig Kiel­burger was 12 when he founded Free the Chil­dren.  I’ve learned a lot from these 6th graders in the past week. They have inspired, chal­lenged and reminded me that when we allow our­selves the space to dream, mir­a­cles do hap­pen every day.