Sometimes we have an inkling that we have the potential to grow in some way.
We have moments when we can dare to believe that we could, for example, be braver, bolder and more confident than we currently are.
We notice that quality in others.
Perhaps we look at them from a distance, impressed and curious about how it’s possible to be this way in the world.
Perhaps we make up stories about what makes it possible for this person and not us. We make up that it’s a consequence of their schooling, their upbringing, some life circumstance that’s different to ours. And while that might be true, these stories have little significance for our own growth.
However, our focus on this quality – our interest and curiosity about it – speaks to what’s ready to start emerging in us.
Perhaps we are unnerved by this person’s boldness and outspoken ways.
Perhaps we are taken aback by their confidence to speak out in large groups.
Often we find ourselves peering at this version of a human being – unable to look away. Whether we are drawn to them, or repelled by them, matters far less than the fact that they have our attention.
Because on some level, and in some way, they are transmitting a quality or a change that’s ready to emerge in us.
They are an external signal that whatever a seed planted in us some time ago is starting to germinate.
Change is in process.
Not the full shebang.
Not all the roots and branches and blossom.
But the early, below the soil transformation that has to happen in order for anything meaningful to grow.
Our attention signifies the subtle shifts that are occurring deep within us.
And when these moments happen – our job is to pay attention. Our job is to get curious on our own behalf. What impresses us about this person’s expression of this quality? What about it makes us shift uncomfortably in our seats? What is it that makes us bring it up that night over dinner, even when no one was asking us about it?
We have so much to learn from each other outside of the traditional student/teacher dynamic.
We are sending signals all the time – just like trees do.
And if we pay attention, then maybe we can learn more about who we are, and most excitingly, who we are becoming.