Around the age of ten, Mother allowed me to spend the night with my new friend Suzanne. A huge event because Suzanne’s family lived in a brand new, paint-still-drying house, and I being ten didn’t get out much.
As we were getting ready for bed, Suzanne’s mom pops her head in and says, “When you settle down I’ll tell you a story.” Suzanne began to ham it up, “This is the best story!”, “You will want to tell everyone!”, “Mom will have you in stitches!” and so on like a Barnum and Bailey circus barker. Therefore, I calmed down as fast as anyone full of popcorn and coke, could.
With our feet tucked in and the covers to our chins, Suzanne’s mom commences with the story…There is a family with twin sons. One son is an eternal optimist and the other a perpetual pessimist…Brief intermission to allow for definitions…
Well, a local doctor claims he can cure the boys. He fills one room full of toys and another full of manure. The doctor leads the brothers down a long hallway and places them in the separate rooms: optimist with manure and pessimist amongst the toys. Before five minutes are up, the pessimist is screaming and wailing in his room.
Both parents rush down the hall to his aid. After opening the door, the pessimist starts complaining about the broken toys, and the lack of a playmate. Some toys are too small for him and some require assembling, etc.
The parents then realize their other son is awful quiet in his room. Fearing the worst, they inch open the door and are almost hit in the face with manure. Here they see their optimistic son digging furiously like a dog. Upon seeing them at the door the son shouts, “Throw me a shovel! With all this manure, there’s bound to be a pony!”
Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, will have you shouting, “Where’s the pony!” after reading their new book The Art of Possibility. This husband and wife super duo has learned to solve problems with the left sides of their brains. Problem solving that is “outside the box” and lends well to any professional or personal life.
If the Zander name sounds familiar, good, Benjamin is the current conductor for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and wife Rosamund is a noted psychotherapist. She is also a budding artist and when the couple has trouble at work, she literally draws possible solutions. Let this book draw you in and show you new roads less fret with manure.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Art of Possibility (Copy)
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