“I believe in you.” Is the water to the planted seed.
Disbelief, in all its forms, is the desert heat that stunts the seed’s growth.
People tend to perform in proportion to how much (or how little) people believe in them.
Their seeds are there, maybe all they need is some watering—from you.
We need to see the suffering in the world so that we can respond with compassion.
As in, we can’t turn a blind eye; we can’t hide in our cocoons of comfort; we can’t ignore our calls for humanity.
I reiterate: we need to see the suffering.
Otherwise, there will be no emotional reason for us to have any kind of response.
Emotion is triggered through experience. The closer the experience, the deeper the emotional feel. And the deeper the emotional feel, the more compassionate the response (I would hope).
We need to be the compassion for others that we so desperately wish was there for us (and our loved ones) when we were suffering.
And if you and your loved ones haven’t suffered all that much, then you are exactly the type of person who can stand to help others the most.
Open your eyes up to the world around you.
And respond with compassion.
Idea gathering is addicting. It’s motivating. It’s exciting.
…It does nothing for you.
Gathering ideas is about as useful as gathering seeds—and I’m not talking about the kind you can eat.
Most of us have an incredible store of seeds that are doing nothing more than taking up space. And yet, what so many of us continue to do is carry on collecting more seeds for our store.
For what? Why? Because you want bigger ones? So you can collect them all? This isn’t Pokémon.
The thing about seeds is that they’re wildly inexpensive and abundant—like ideas. But, even just one seed planted and cared for well, can lead to something valuable. Certainly more valuable than the seed itself.
And it’s in the process of nurturing seeds and bringing plants to life where you learn the most and get the biggest return on your invested time anyway—not from seed collecting.
So, before you go searching for other seeds to collect, how about you plant and begin cultivating some of the seeds you already have?
What if, instead of being a well known collector of inexpensive seeds, you became a well known grower of increasingly valuable plants?
My dog will BARK and YELL and RAGE and fearlessly advance towards even the most vicious looking dogs.
But, pops, cracks, and whizzes from the fridge?
Terrified. Whimpers. Needs to be held.
These noises, of course, don’t scare us because we understand them.
But, failure, aloneness, suffering?
Leaves most of us terrified, whimpering, and feeling like we need to be held.
Maybe it’s the case that these things aren’t inherently scary, but we’re just scared of them because we don’t fully understand them.
Maybe if we spent more time learning how to fail forward, enjoy aloneness, and channel our suffering—we wouldn’t be so scared?
Things become less scary once we understand them.
This post became the introduction for: 13 Rousing Delia Owens Quotes from Where The Crawdads Sing on Abandonment, Love, and Self-Reliance
Not having it all figured out is an excellent place to come from when connecting with people.
Because here’s the thing: neither does anybody else.
Too many people forget this.
Figuring things out together is a magnet for connection.
It allows for reciprocity. It allows for synergy and exchange. It allows for healing and growth.
And, what’s more, is that it will help you figure things out faster than trying (waiting) alone ever will.
New and better doesn’t come until there’s room.
If our minds are filled with old, redundant ideas then maybe it’s time to clear some space.
How?
Write more of your ideas down. Even (especially) the old, redundant ones.
The key here is that remembering takes up thinking space, thus consuming the exact space you need to generate new, better ideas.
Furthermore, it’s often the case that ideas piggyback on each other.
So, whatever time you spend trying to remember initial ideas, is in turn stifling the ideas that want to piggyback off those initial ideas.
Don’t rely on memory.
In paper and pens; thumbs and screens—we must trust.
Keep your headspace clean and clear and ready for whatever you might think of next.