The answer is never the answer. What’s really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you’ll always be seeking. I’ve never seen anyone really find the answer — they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
Ken Kesey
We tend to think life should be the way we want it to be, the way we planned. But often, things don’t turn out that way.
In fact, they rarely do. And there’s wisdom in not expecting life to turn out the way we think or feel it ought to.
There’s wisdom in understanding that we are essentially clueless
Björn Natthiko Lindeblad, I May Be Wrong: And Other Wisdoms From Life as a Forest Monk
Mother Nature never moves in straight lines. She moves in curves and curlicues. Fact is, I love the many crooked trees that are growing everywhere. They look like they’ve fought for survival in a tough world. Like me. Like you. They grow both up and sideways, twisted and curved from battling the wind, the storms, or a gardener’s pruning shears.
Every time I see crooked roots and branches, I stop and pay attention. Static yet dynamic, fixed but moving every which way, such trees tell their life story. Their presence is a history book, just like ours. They grow upwards, yes, always up, but to the sides as well. “That’s me,” I acknowledge, as I move on.
In fact, maybe that’s all of us — reaching upward, trying to better ourselves and our conditions in many ways as we seek nourishment from above, but often forced to move to one side or another just to survive. We are shaped by our longings, by the facts of our lives, and by the force of the elements, including our own elemental desires.
Why do I think all this is so important? Because our efforts to succeed move us away from being who we truly are. In other words, let’s give up, just for today, insisting on how things OUGHT to be, and embrace how they really are. And how we are. That’s where real life is!
Patty de Llosa, Blogpost, Will We Ever Get It Straight?
Fudōshin (不動心) is a Japanese word, translated as “the immovable mind” or “unshakable heart.” It refers to an inner stability that remains steady amid pressure, fear, praise, or provocation.
The mind allows emotions to move through without appointing them as decision-makers.
Do not let your mind be altered by circumstances
Linji (Rinzai) Yixuan d. 866
See that there is nothing to get. It is already present.
All ideas about progress serve the mind only.
What progress is required to go from here to here?
Wu Hsin, Chinese sage who lived some time between 403 and 221 BCE.
Owning our story can be hard, but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.
Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky, but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love, belonging, and joy – the experiences that make us the most vulnerable.
Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
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