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Re-Envisioning the Visionary


 What is it to be visionary?   

Dictionary.com tells us, "given to or characterized by fanciful, not presently workable, or unpractical ideas, views, or schemes."  OK.  A bit flat, that one.

Webster's Dictionary offers "having or marked by foresight and imagination."  There's a bit more energy behind this definition.

Malcolm Gladwell stated, "The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world."  Ah!   A bit of magic here.   We're warming up.

I like to think that the visionary is unafraid to imagine the future.  Inspired and inspiring.   In my mind I see the visionary somehow weaving a web that captures the imaginations of others.  

The contribution that I'd like to make to a sense of being visionary is that of the consideration of scale.   So often, when we hear the word "visionary" we think of big things - vast enterprises - monumental endeavors - brave undertakings.   And of course, big, vast, monumental, and brave endeavors are quite likely the work of visionaries.   

I offer the notion that a visionary can also re-imagine the very small.  Allow me to illustrate.

Taking the time to squat down with a small child to observe the movements of insects can be visionary.  We are not dragging the child past the small miracle with the disregard inherent to our hustle-bustle adult world.   We're not stepping on the insects with a disregard for life.   By crouching down, taking time, engaging in conversation, speculating about these tiny creatures' sense of purpose, we become visionaries of another sort...

Henry Miller said, "The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."

What do you think?  Isn't the very small also unimaginably vast in complexity?

Go for a walk and lose yourself to some small part of the experience.   Become enraptured by the textures of the bark of a tree.   Or lift your face and become mesmerized by the dappling sunlight through the leaves.   Become so quiet that you can hear every bird, every rustle of every leaf.    

I welcome your thoughts.   

Please visit and subscribe to my YouTube Channel, which offers short snippets of yoga-inspired movements that you can practice anywhere, any time that you have a few minutes. Debbie Kell - YouTube  We can each of us become visionaries of the small.  

Please leave a comment, share, and follow my blog to get notifications of new posts.   To follow this blog, click on the three lines in the upper right of the home screen, or click here.   

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Location: Wycombe, PA 18980, USA

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