How do we gain agency over our perspective?

“Where you stand, be the soul of that place.”

This Rumi quote always reminds me of Manish Chandra. He’s not only the soul of every place he’s in. He illuminates the soul of every person he meets, as a father, friend, and the founder of Poshmark.

Manish is an incredible teacher who I’m honored to call my friend. I was thankful to explore the spirit he embodies in today’s episode — One of love and connection, gratitude and perspective.

I’ve returned to his words on adaptability over the last few months… “Adaptability is, given a set of situations, instead of resisting it, you embrace and surrender to it. Then, figure out: How do you succeed in that situation? How do you adapt?

There's always a winning strategy. If you approach it with that possibility, first of all, it’s hopeful, right? It's optimism. It means that you can succeed. Second, by not resisting the circumstances, you take the time to understand the circumstances. Third, life is a series of these episodes. So, you can apply your learnings to different circumstances and grow in various ways.

All of these things are amazing byproducts of first accepting the circumstance, then adapting, then succeeding.”

I’m thankful to close our Inspiring Hope series with Manish’s wisdom. In illuminating our agency, he reminds us that hope is always possible.