What great possibilities are waiting in the wings for you to discover?

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.

— J. B. Priestley

Orchestra conductor Benjamin Zander and his wife, teacher and family therapist Rosamund Stone Zander, wrote a fascinating and entertaining book about “the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in every aspect of our lives.”  In their book, The Art of Possibility, they tell of a violinist who “led as a peer with so little fanfare that no one actually noticed him. They just heard the remarkable result.”

…in the middle of the slow movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet op. 95, just before his big solo, [the violist] had an inexplicable memory lapse, in a place where his memory had never failed him before.  He literally blacked out.  But the audience heard Opus 95 as it was meant to be played, the viola solo sounding in all its richness.  Even the first violinist and the cellist, both with their eyes closed and deeply absorbed in the music, were unaware that the violist had dropped out.  The second violinist, Felix Khuner, was playing the violist’s melody, coming in without missing a beat at the viola’s designated entrance, the notes perfectly in tune and voiced like a viola on an instrument [violin] tuned a fifth higher… The violist was stunned and, offstage after the performance, asked Khuner how he could have possibly known to play. Khuner answered with a shrug: “I could see that your third finger was poised over the wrong string, so I knew you must have forgotten what came next.”

Wow.  The story reminds me that as we play through the scenes of our lives, we are surrounded by resources that are simply “waiting in the wings” to become our possibilities.  Life is very much about recognizing opportunity and making the most of any moment.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

— Bertrand Russell

Waiting in the Wings

What exactly do we mean by the phrase “waiting in the wings”? And what possibilities lurk within the concept?

Wings: The unseen backstage area on either side of the stage of a theater…

— Unknown

If someone is waiting in the wings, they are in the background, but nearby, ready to act on short notice.

— UsingEnglish.com

So I plan to prepare thoroughly and have several outfits waiting in the wings in case of inclement weather.

— Lisa Guerrero

How many times in your life have you been the understudy, waiting in the wings, all prepped and ready to go, knowing that it might never be your turn… and what did you learn while you were waiting?  What skills did you perfect?  What character traits did you acquire?  What friends did you make?

How many times in your life have you had competition waiting in the wings, nipping at your heels, hoping you’d be a “no show”… and how did that affect your concentration, your determination to be your best?  Which of the competencies you now take for granted were honed under the pressure to excel?

And how many times have you actually flubbed a line and rejoiced in the cue cards or the “save” that popped out of the wings with such grace that nobody noticed the glitch… and might you now be more flexible, more relaxed, and better able to tap into the inner-you that knows how to carry on despite the glitches?

And how many times have you had to draw on a cache of ready-to-go, “just in case” things like extra scissors & tape, back-up batteries for cell phones & laptops, earthquake clothes and water bottles in the car trunk, gas money tucked away… and what have you learned about being prepared as well as making-do with whatever is at hand?  Are you more inventive at moments of crisis because you’ve learned to stay on-mission in spite of difficult circumstances?

Possibilities in Waiting

Kevin J. Anderson, prolific author (46 national bestsellers and over 20 million books in print worldwide in thirty languages) once remarked:

It was like there was a pile of kindling that was in the back of my imagination just waiting there. Once I lit it, it just flared up and I kept getting ideas and ideas.

That’s an apt description of how I’m feeling about this idea of “waiting in the wings” – I’m excited and encouraged… warmed by the fire and ready to create!

What great possibilities will you discover waiting in the wings?