When I first read Emily Dickinson's beautiful invitation to dwell in possibility, I felt a little flutter in my chest. It is such a gentle yet profound command. To dwell doesn't mean to just visit or to glance at a dream before walking away; it means to make a home there. It means to inhabit the space where things could happen, where the unknown isn't a scary void, but a garden waiting to bloom. It is about choosing to live in the light of what might be, rather than being weighed down by the certainty of what was.
In our everyday lives, it is so much easier to settle into the heavy, predictable rhythms of routine. We often find ourselves staring at the walls of our current circumstances, focusing only on the cracks in the plaster or the dust on the sill. We become experts at calculating risks and predicting failures. We build fortresses out of our fears to keep ourselves safe, but in doing so, we accidentally lock ourselves away from the very magic we crave. We forget that every great adventure started as a mere possibility.
I remember a time when I felt quite stuck, much like a little duck stuck in a patch of thick mud. I was so focused on the fact that I couldn't see a clear path forward that I completely ignored the wide, open sky above me. I was so busy mourning my lack of progress that I didn't notice the seeds of new ideas floating right past my beak. It wasn't until I decided to stop looking at the mud and start looking at the horizon that I realized the path wasn't gone; it was simply waiting for me to believe it could exist again.
We all have these moments where the weight of reality feels much heavier than the lightness of hope. But what if we practiced looking at our lives through a different lens? What if, instead of asking 'what if it fails,' we allowed ourselves to ask 'what if it flourishes?' This shift doesn't require you to ignore your responsibilities or your history, but it does ask you to leave a little room in your heart for the unexpected.
Today, I want to encourage you to find one small area of your life where you can start dwelling in possibility. It could be a new hobby, a conversation you've been avoiding, or a dream you tucked away years ago. Take a deep breath, look toward the horizon, and allow yourself to wonder. The possibilities are much closer than you think.