A cool thing happened to me the other day…
Although I am now living in Austin, I travel back to Vermont periodically to see friends and family and play shows, and this spring I found myself there, clearing out the attic where Addison and I had been storing lots of STUFF.
We brought some things back with us, and gave away the rest.
Back at our apartment here in sunny Austin, as I sorted through and organized said stuff, I discovered a withered old notebook that I had filled with scrawling more than 7 years ago.
I flipped through the pages to see if there was anything worth keeping…
And lo and behold, a gem of wisdom was revealed within!
Upon reading this passage that I must have copied down from the Wu Ji (The Empty Space of Wisdom), I find that the words resonate with me deeply, and I feel so grateful to my past self for writing it down.
Here’s what it says:
“Do not assume that you know all.
Notice nature and abide in the infinite.
Travel openly on uncharted paths.
Be all that you are but do not make a show of it.
Be contented and remain empty.
Learn to sustain the Beginner’s Mind.”
Pretty awesome, right??
Thanks for reading this post. Feel free to leave a comment (this lets me know if anyone’s reading these blogs and I’d also just love to hear your thoughts)!
Take care,
-Jahnavi of The Love Sprockets
“Be contented and remain empty.
Learn to sustain the Beginner’s Mind.”
That is the best thing I’ve read in some time. Turning 53, having a second kid on the way, and having launched into a new career at 47, I now wake up and go to be with only the slimmest notion of where I’ll be next, and how I’ll get through it. All I know is, it’s good to be alive, even when it’s nearly unbearable, and that everything will be ok, even when it’s difficult. Now if I could only get together with my nieces more often.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂 You’ve had and are continuing to have an incredible, full life! (speaking of remaining empty, ha ha). I saw the photo you shared of the ship full of subway cars getting dumped in the ocean, and it’s amazing that you were out there seeing all of that. Believe it or not I am still planning on visiting you guys. And now that I actually am beginning to have a steady source of income, that makes buying a plane ticket much more feasible. 🙂
“Do not assume that you know all”. That ones for me. 🙂