Sonequa Biberman

There’s a hidden reason people love superhero stories. Comics can easily be dismissed as fiction or fantasy, when actually superpowers are as real as any ability you might have.

As a coach I work with parents, teens, and young adults. Sometimes asking questions about values, strengths, and identity can be like inviting a young person to enter the door of a darkened room.

One way I love to have this conversation is to ask, “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”

This question is the doorway to a vast imaginative world of immense possibilities.

This morning I was in a conversation with a young guy I’ll call “Simon.” He is twelve years old and has been dealing with a bunch of challenging life situations.

When I asked him this question, he said without a moment’s pause, “Easy! I would be able to pause time.”

He went on to tell me he wanted to have this superpower since he was four years old.

We went on to talk about how this superpower could help him and what he’d be able to do with it.

The big shift happened when I asked, “Do you realise you already have this ability?”

Before we go on, what would be your superpower?

Close your eyes (if it helps) and imagine having any superpower in the world. Allow yourself to daydream for a while. Let it come to you.

You might pick something like x-ray vision or being able to fly. Don’t immediately dismiss it if you think humans can’t do these things.

In comics and films, superpowers are symbolic of a deep inner quality or desired human strength.

Here’s what I mean:

Whatever your special power, think about how it relates to your life. One of these may have jumped out at you with a thought like, “Gosh, I wish I had that.”

My belief is that we cannot imagine any quality that doesn’t already exist in us at some level.

So when I worked with Simon, our conversation was about how to develop the quality of pausing time. And if you think a twelve year old cannot handle a conversation about time as an illusion, think again.

We talked about how the mind wants to race into the future to fix things (worry, anxiety, planning) or get trapped in the past (regret, guilt, memory-holds).

But all superheroes have one superpower in commons: they always show up right on time.

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