The Possibility Curve: Turning Change into an Ally with Dewitt Jones (Episode #219)
National Geographic photographer and TEDx speaker Dewitt Jones shares one transformative perspective after another. We explore how to stay grounded in uncertain times, why outrage isn’t sustainable, and how to reframe change, scarcity—and even the news. From “repeatable miracles” to using curiosity and celebration as superpowers and bridges, get ready to see life through a new lens.
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About Our Guest:
Dewitt Jones has spent a lifetime asking one beautiful question: What happens when we train our gaze on what’s right with the world?
Dewitt Jones is a celebrated National Geographic photographer and TEDx speaker, but more importantly, he’s a seasoned explorer of awe, beauty, and what it means to live fully in the face of uncertainty.
He’s not naive—he’s not ignoring the hard stuff—but he’s living proof that beauty, wonder, and possibility are always available if we choose the right lens. He has several fresh perspectives to offer, each one an invitation to live more deeply, love more boldly, and show up to our lives with eyes wide open.
The following is an unusual way for me to write an article about one of our interviews, but it covers some of the ah-ha moments in a way that might inspire you to dive even deeper (perhaps several times) into this wonderful conversation with a master of perspective.
Here’s a guided walk through some of Dewitt’s most powerful insights, with timestamps for easy reference if you’d like to revisit a particular gem.
Chapters:
🌊 4:18 — Waves Are Repeatable Miracles
Every morning on his quiet island of Molokai, Hawaii, Dewitt walks out to photograph waves—not because he’s chasing the perfect shot, but because waves are, as he puts it, “repeatable miracles.” Each one rises, dances, crashes, and vanishes—and just when you think you’ve seen the best of them, the ocean offers another.
That’s his reminder: wonder isn’t rare. It’s relentless. Nature never runs out of miracles or of beauty—we just run out of wonder.
The good news, though, is that we can train it back; we just have to keep showing up.
🌳 6:00 — Beauty Is Everywhere, Even in Your Driveway: Nature as Our Daily Teacher
One of Dewitt’s best bits of wisdom came as a simple tip from a lifetime behind the lens:
“If you go out to photograph waterfalls and nature is doing trees [that day]—photograph trees.”
In other words, life doesn’t always unfold according to plan, beauty is still showing up. The only question is: Are we flexible enough to notice?
Life is full of unexpected beauty—but we’ll miss it if we’re too attached to our original plan. Dewitt Jones invites us to stay open to the beauty that’s actually unfolding around us in real time—to let go of expectations and be in awe of what is, not what was “supposed” to be.
💛 14:20 — Start with Celebration: A Shortcut to Connection
When photographing strangers for National Geographic, Dewitt didn’t hide behind a tree. He approached with awe, admiration, and celebration: “That’s the most beautiful corn I’ve ever seen,” he’d say; or “Your tattoos are incredible—tell me the story.”
It’s not just a photography trick—it’s a life strategy. Lead with celebration and genuine appreciation and you create a bridge out of a shared moment of dignity.
People open up when they feel appreciated, safe; when they feel seen for what’s right about them. That’s when the real story starts.
🌉 15:15 — Using Curiosity and Celebration as a Bridge
Dewitt calls his go-to formula for connection “the bridge,” and curiosity and celebration can lead the way across—especially when there are differences between us.
Maybe I can’t connect with someone about politics,” he says, “but I can connect about the craftsmanship in their tattoos, or the way they speak, or the corn they’re selling.”
That starting point doesn’t have to be the whole conversation. Just start there, creating a shared, human moment. It might just be about a shirt, or a smile—but it opens a door to so much more.
This kind of openness, he reminds us, is especially crucial in a polarized world. When assumptions close us down, celebration can still open a window.
🗣️ 16:00 — Ben Zander’s Wisdom: The Two Phrases That Could Rewire Your Brain
Dewitt and I both adore conductor Ben Zander, who offers two phrases that can flip your mindset instantly:
- When faced with something new or odd or uncertain, you say, “How fascinating!” — a playful way to meet the unknown or the unexpected.
- When something doesn’t go your way, just say “How inconvenient!” — it’s a light-hearted response to life’s inevitable messes, said with a wink and a shrug that reminds us we’re still alive—and that’s pretty wonderful.
What beautiful reframes for handling the unexpected with grace! They’re tiny linguistic winks, but they can carry enormous power when life throws curveballs our way.
🌍 25:30 — Why We Can Live Our Best Life, Even If We Know the World May End for Us
At 82, Dewitt speaks plainly about mortality—not with fear, but with clarity.
“I’ve maybe got eight years left,” he told me. “So how do I want to live those years?”
His answer? By living the very best of humanity; by putting kindness, beauty, and joy into the world.
“Even if the world is falling apart,” he says, “I still have the choice to be the best for it.”
📽️ 28:45 — Correction: The Movie Is Contact, Not Cosmos
(When we discussed the inspiring work of astronomer Jill Tarter, I mistakenly referenced the film Cosmos—but it’s Contact (1997) where her story is dramatized. In real life, she led the SETI project—our global effort to detect intelligent life beyond Earth.)
(And her hope? That discovering another civilization could show us that it’s possible to make it through the bottleneck. That humanity might still have a future if we evolve past self-destruction.)
🕊️ 34:02 – Awe and Wonder as a Daily Practice: Carry Something Beautiful in Your Heart
We all need something beautiful to hold onto—especially when things feel dark. Dewitt talks about the power of beauty as ballast, something to steady us through storms.
There’s a quote from Blaise Pascal Pascal, the 17th-century mathematician and mystic, that sums it up perfectly:
“In difficult times, carry something beautiful in your heart.”
— Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
For Dewitt, that beauty might be a leaf, a wave, or the echo of a kind word. Whatever it is for you—find it. Carry it with you wherever you go, and draw from it when you feel the sources of light and hope around you growing dim.
⏸️ 39:41 — Break
🧭 41:56 — Build an “Autopilot of Awe” to Stay on Course
Dewitt likens our daily mindset to a pilot setting a course from San Francisco to Honolulu. If you’re just 1% off and don’t correct… you’re lost in the ocean.
Pilots set course with great precision—so how do we stay true? What keeps us from drifting off-course in the day-to-day grind?
He suggests creating a kind of internal “autopilot” to help us recenter. Set your day around reminders of awe—bells, rituals, or anything else that can create simple moments of presence that ask: Am I living the way I want to live?
For Dewitt Jones, it’s bells—literal ones! He uses an app that chimes randomly throughout the day, and each chime reminds him to pause and ask, “Am I grounded in the lens I want to see the world through?”
Whether it’s considering the wonder of the true seven wonders of the world (sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, laughter, and love) or just pausing to admire a leaf—these small resets recalibrate our whole sense of direction—and, by extension, our sense of self.
🔄 49:04 — Change Is Not a Threat—It’s a Portal to Possibility
Dewitt has lived through many global crises, and one thing he’s learned? Change might be terrifying—but it’s also ripe with potential. When things fall apart, they also come loose. And in that looseness, we get a chance to reshape the world.
Yes, change disrupts. Yes, change is uncomfortable. But it also creates possibility. If we face it with wonder, not fear, we might just discover something better on the other side. As he puts it:
“Times of greatest change are times of greatest possibility.”
If things are in flux, then new answers can emerge: New collaborations; New ways of seeing. When life shakes up the status quo, it’s important to remember that we get the chance to shape what comes next.
💸 53:40 — From Scarcity to Sufficiency: A More Honest Reframe
Dewitt’s take on the “abundance” mindset is refreshingly grounded: No, we don’t all live in constant “abundance” all the time—we can’t. Some things are always going to be limited. We can, however, live in constant sufficiency.
That word—popularized by author Lynne Twist—means recognizing that we have enough. Enough to love, to give, to create. Enough to stop striving and start celebrating.
Sufficiency isn’t about living without material worries. Sufficiency is being at a place where you can say: “I have enough to love, to give, to show up.”
We don’t need more stuff; we need more connection, more clarity. We need more moments of “this is enough.” That’s where our strength lies—not in the excess, but in the gratitude.
This shift in perspective—from striving to have more to ensuring we have enough—is one of the most powerful changes we can make in our lives.
🚪 58:25 — Stop Pushing on Doors That Won’t Open
This one struck me personally. Years ago, I was grinding away, trying to force certain doors to open for the Goodness Exchange—doors that would not budge—convinced that what lies beyond them must be where my mission had to go.
Dewitt offered this instead: What if you stop? Look around. Some doors are already ajar—walk through those instead.
Life is often whispering its next invitation, but we miss it when we’re fixated on how things should go. Sometimes the right path is the one that feels light, clear, and open—not the one we’ve been muscling toward for years.
📰 1:06:25 — Filter the Noise: How Media Warps Reality
This was another mic-drop moment—Dewitt said:
“When you see a news story about something you actually know well, you realize how much they oversimplify, or get it wrong. So be very careful what you let in.”
It’s true: Outrage sells—but it rarely offers the full picture. You’ve probably noticed something similar in your own viewing—realizing that a story is being sensationalized simply because you know more about the nuance that is not being shared.
So when you feel yourself spiraling from the news, remember: most of it is short-sheeted. It’s not the full story, and it’s certainly not the story of the thousands of people out there already working to solve real problems.
Better to seek out stories that give you hope, insight, and a broader lens, than to spend all your time chasing down boogeymen.
✅ 1:19:30 — What to Do Next
At the end of our conversation, Dewitt said this:
“If you’re not in awe, you’re not paying attention.”
So how do we pay attention? Here’s the practice he recommends:
- Start your day with the real seven wonders of the world: to see, to hear, to taste, to smell, to touch, to laugh, and to love.
- Set a bell to ring randomly throughout your day. Use it to check in and ask, “Am I living the way I want to live?”
- Make beauty and celebration a practice, not just a mood.
- And above all, put the best of yourself out into the world. Not to be the best in the world… but the best for it.
Final Thoughts
Dewitt Jones believes we each have several different lenses we can choose to look through in life. His choice? The lens of celebration. Gratitude. Wonder.
When we use that lens, we don’t just feel better…we do better. We connect more deeply; we find energy to meet the world’s problems with clear eyes and open hearts.
As Dewitt says,
“Celebrate what’s right with the world, and you’ll have the energy to fix what’s wrong.”
That’s the practice. That’s the path.
So today, maybe try on that lens. Celebrate what’s right with the world—and see what becomes possible.
References Mentioned:
- Website: Dewitt Jones
- Video: CELEBRATE WHAT’S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD! | Dewitt Jones | TEDxSouthLakeTahoe
- Book: The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Ben Zander
- Video: The transformative power of classical music | Benjamin Zander | TED
- Book: Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis
- Bottleneck Concept of human evolution: Dr. Jill Tarter’s Episode of the Conspiracy of Goodness Podcast, wherein she explains the “bottleneck” concept of where we human beings find ourselves, in an evolutionary sense. (Timestamp 44:58)
