Go forth, boldly,
in the direction of
your desires!

Stride toward them,
not in the shadows,
but in the light of day.

Stop talking about “ought” and “should”;
be outright with what you want.

Your hand will reach for what it wants;
even if it has to deceive you into doing it.

Wait in darkness,
within your questions,
growing.

One day, without effort:
crack.

Then no longer able to contain you,
you will fly away.

American Coot eggs hatching

Each new peak brings further vistas,
thinner air.

And with it,
stronger legs,
stronger lungs,

and a lighter,
better-fitting pack.

To choose this is to exclude that;

to decide is to decide against;

to marry is to divorce;

to love is to hate;

to say yes is to say no.

Be free to be a contradiction.
– All of us are,
whether we admit it or not.

Be absurd. Nonsensical;
jealous, greedy, and childish.

Be profound. Insightful;
strong, courageous, and noble.

Each of us is too big to be called
only one name.

Thoughts become things
they say.

Focus on something
and that thing will find its way to you.

—Or, if not it to you,
you will find your way to it.

Keep your power.
Do not surrender it to other people.

No one can take it from you;
it is always something you give.

And giving away can become a habit.
A way of life.

Keep your power.
For only then will you have something to give.

I imagine that every one of us,
on our deathbed,
will realize that we took “ourselves” too seriously.

– That the “I” was a fiction of my own imagination.
A nothing. An idea. A cartoon character;
a Mr. Potato-Head.

And I imagine that every single one of us;
once we come to terms with that reality;
the mutability of the self;
will say, with some regret:

“why did I not dare
to create something more of this Self?
Something bolder?
Something richer?
Something more distinct?”

You are the latest model
after a billion-years tinkering.

You are partway to a final design;
a better being.

A being capable of transforming the earth.
Capable of turning ordinary things into extraordinary things.

You are unfinished,
partway to perfection.

Red-faced.
Drips of sweat.
Quivering.

Do not give up.
Another few seconds
go deeper into your strength.
Hold tighter.

The mind let go long before.
The will holds on.
Its fingers grow weak
but refuse to let go
of the bar above its head.

This moment,
you stand at the infinite crossroad;
forks, uncountable.

Life unfolds one way;
one alone.
The movement right
destroys the possibility of left.

The path before you,
once malleable mud,
turns to stone as you step.
Closes behind you.

But see: another infinite crossroad
has come.

The most beautiful moments of life
are not planned.

They catch you by surprise,
leave you breathless,
pull your heart up into your throat.

Your only task is to hold your breath;
hold your gaze.
Drink it in.

The original beauty fades,
the afterglow, bittersweet.

Learn to embrace the cycle:
Surprise, delight, loss.
Surprise, delight, loss.

Do not try to hold on.

Be not the coward
who hides in the crowd,
knowing you should be out front, leading.

But if you lead,
be least of all.
Be nothing.

Only an instrument,
willing to be used.

Be you.

Something different,
only because it is what it is.

Something people run into like a wall.
Something that makes them feel alive.
Something that makes heads bob to invisible beat.

Make them tumble and turn,
searching for words
to describe what you are.

Can you discover yourself?
The extraordinary, within?

Rage is an icy mountaintop.

Black abysmal edges,
heavy clouds that swirl higher:
want only to rise higher.

Harness that energy.
Use it for good.

At first the wood
is tied to its curve:
forced, beyond her will,
to take shape.

But held long,
and untied now,
the bend is her only will
and from it comes her power.

I hate my job.
– Then why go?

Because I need to.
– Why do you need to?

Because I have to pay for my car.
– Why do you have to have a car?

Because I have to get to my job.

A teacher said, “do as I do”,
and all the students did,
except for one who could not.

Then Life said “do as you do”,
and all the students could not,
except for one who did.

A sense of fear:
as on the edge of a waterfall,
ready to jump.

The only movement necessary
is a complete letting go.
Giving myself fully to the air;
to the fall.

Hoping that as I spin and twirl,
some hand will catch me,
as I fall.

Plummet
down through the icy water
to the bottom of Things.
To the hard, cold floor.

Your grasping mind
hits reality,
plants its feet,
shoots back up to the surface.

Your lungs can finally be at rest with Things;
take every Thing in fully,
and let it out fully.

Your gasping mind can finally breathe.

View your life as a video game.
Unserious.
Unreal.
– Or, real, but only in the sense that a game is real
to the characters in it.

Each day is a new opportunity;
challenges (not “problems”),
testing your abilities;
levels (not “imperfections”),
testing your courage.

Dare to explore this fantastic world;
dare to experiment, to try;
to see what is possible
in this video game life.

Your life is a ball of yarn.

The string, unravelled behind,
twisting far away.
The future, enigmatic,
yet to be unspun.

The happy person is a kitten;
unworried, unattached,
playing with its ball of yarn.

Run fast.
Trip often.

If your knees are not green
at the end of your life,
you were not playing hard enough.

There is no “perfect plan” for your life.
There is only the path you choose.

And as long as your choices are pointed upwards,
reaching for the light like new shoots,
then every possible path
will be perfect.

Yearn with every fiber
for flight.

Imagine that ascent
ten thousand times;
that spinning euphoria.

Expect that day,
when timely winds
sweep you up.

High above the tree
where for so long
you patiently clung.

Onto that ledge:
your home.

The only obstacle
to realizing any possibility;
to seeing any dream,
come to pass
in your world.

Is You.

Your home waits
for you.

A place with no walls.

Only doors;
only windows.