Possibility of Something New

The first verb I learned to conjugate in every one of our foreign moves was “posso,” (Italian and Portuguese) and “puedo,” (in Spanish). This Latin root means “to be possible or able.” I use posso/ puedo frequently to ask the question “Can I?” (Can I see the total amount? Can I write down my email for you instead of telling you the letters?) Latin base words that pepper the English language are like dear friends from home who bring the welcoming feeling of the familiar when they pop in for a visit. A cognate such as possible is not only a useful verb and familiar friend, it is also the framework for each of our moves– the possibility of building new friendships, exploring new sites, and emotional and mental enrichment. As we settle into our third month living in Spain, with all the possibilities and choices before us, I ask myself: can I let go of the ruins of the past, build on them and embrace something new? Can I create a world where work resembles play, where time is not scarce, where growth is a byproduct of a changed mindset?

The creation of something new is not accomplished but the intellect, but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. Carl Jung

Growing up on a family farm where it was all work, and play never entered our orbit, I was shocked to learn in science class that work and play complimented and wrapped around each other like a spiral staircase, similar to the double helix in our DNA structure. These DNA double helixes, had major grooves and minor grooves. As a beast of burden, I decided my major groove must genetically be work, (wider with more proteins binding to it); and my minor grove was play, (narrower and less binding). Even after learning our minds and bodies need rest and play after exertion, the possibility of play always seemed out of reach, until one day a year ago when I was confined to bed post surgery, flat out in the midst of personal crisis, as I could no longer work. I began to hold onto the possibility that “It was never too late to have a happy childhood,” and moving to Spain became the impetus to finally getting around to the science of playing.

It didn’t take long after putting down stakes in Spain to see that Spaniards excelled at relaxing after work, and thoroughly enjoyed playing. Every afternoon they could be found playing on soccer fields and lounging in outdoor cafes in animated conversation, and laughing during their evening strolls called ‘paseo.‘ We noticed festivals and fireworks sprung up every few weeks and everyone, even children, took to the streets until the wee morning hours just enjoying life. Over the weekend, Spaniards, from all around the country, flocked to Valencia to join in the liberation festival commemorating Conquistador King James I of Aragon who took back Valencia from the occupying Moors in 1238. As we walked around seeing Spanish women and men beautifully arrayed in their traditional costumes, dancing and singing, I felt a deep longing bubble up, the need to play, and I wanted to join in the fun.

In this place, working on a second chance of having a happy childhood, I admired how Spaniards put up ceramic plaques commemorating those who worked hard at play– bullfighters, or matador’s who danced in front of angry bulls, and neighborhoods lauded on plaques for playfully building the best paper mache monument that was burnt during a three week Falle festival marking the coming of Spring. The Falles filled with parades, music and dances and traditional costumes and fireworks commemorate the endless possibilities of a universe of play.

“They stand in the great space of possibility in a posture of openness with an unfettered imagination for what can be.”

It is hard to move from spectator to participant, even when there is a will. In the Art of Possibility, psychotherapist Rosamund Zander writes that one of our roles in life is to radiate possibility into the world, and we do this by changing our mindset, and turning everything into play. By seeing life as a game and seeing ourselves as a game board, “we shift the context from one of survival to one of opportunity for growth.” This change of mindset opens up new opportunities of shifting the paradigm of the necessity of work to include the necessity of play.

In order to “Dwell in Possibility” as Dickinson wrote, and make everything a game, our first field trip play day was taking the train to the Roman ruins of Sagunto just North of Valencia. Living without a car in Valencia has been fantastic and challenging at once, and for the first time in our married life, our only option was bus or train. We chose the train. On an early Saturday we settled into public transportation seating and gave full relaxed attention to the scenery going by, and laughed and talked and not surprising it seemed like play.

The thirty minute train ride to go twenty miles up the coast to Sagunto, sped by quickly. Citrus and olive groves watched us glide past. An occasional villa appeared on the expansive farm land extending to the ocean. Getting off the train, the wind picked up but we fixed the chills by walking on the sunny side of the street below Sagunto castle.

The charming old town we passed through, to get up to the ruins, with its bulging ancient walls, wacky staircases, tiled thresholds on restored rustic buildings and little nooks and crannies filled with colorful potted plants was delightful. The walk up the hill, while steep, was better than catching the miniature green train chugging uphill, as we were able to poke around and read the orange historical signs. We found ourselves in a dead end a time or two, but upon turning around and retracing our steps, we were captivated by the lovely views we had had at our backs all along. Meandering and dawdling in a new place always encourages it to open up its secrets.

Arriving at the ruins, an old admiration for the Romans kicked in. These masters at concrete always left behind structures that lasted for thousands of years. And when building a new city, the Romans always made space for an amphitheater for drama and gladiators, and a circus for chariot races along with the forum, basilicas, and temples. They understood the need for play after hard work. Over the years, we have visited ruins in Rome, Italy; Nimes, France, and Italica, Spain, and Sagunto did not disappoint. The Almenara fortress Gate, perimeter walls and foundations of the Forum still stand. The mix of Iberian defensive walls, the Roman retaining walls reinforced by buttresses, Islamic medieval arches mixed in with Christian Gothic and Renaissance rework of towers and bastion was an impressive, creative, collaborative work. Cisterns, millstones, granaries, ovens for bread, shops and homes on the immense hilltop fortress overlooking lush fields below with thousand year old olive trees still producing olives for oil, and grape vines that filled the ancient amphorae displayed around us with wine, made the past feel present with possibility. Soren Kierkegaard undoubtable felt this as he penned, “What wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility.”

The Roman philosopher Seneca said: “Let us live, since we must die.” The thought of living life after cancer and a brush with mortality swirled around us on this hilltop fortress, and we contemplated again leaving behind us a memorial of our lives, a monument of continued work, eat, sleep, repeat….or moving onto a narrower rockier path which required stretching, playing, living small but purposefully, with new ways to exist, and leaving behind a legacy of truly living. Horace, a Roman poet, said: “Nil Desperandum” or “We don’t despair, but live.” While worry and work had its place in our lives, we chose again the livelihood of living, and the possibilities of something new with play.

We, the insistent on living, looked past the ruins, enjoyed the sun on our shoulders, the breeze coming off the ocean and breathed in life. There was nothing checked off the to-do list but so much was accomplished. We stepped unimpeded, with openness, imagination and playfulness into the great space, the universe of possibility where living happens. We all can. See you there.

“Playfulness allows us to see things from different angles and may sometimes save us.”
― Erik Pevernagie