Reset, by connecting to your essence.

When we are at rest we are also at a key starting place. Therein lies a counter-intuitive tension.

There is always a way “back home” in your mind, a way to self-soothe, to calm–where everything is “ok.” You can always “call yourself home” into the present, into an unbiased awareness where things “just are” or something “just is.”

This idea is most relevant when I’m in the midst of overwhelm. I am out of my essence, unmoored and without an anchor, when I am thrown off by my own beginner’s mindset.

Learning something new, especially as an adult, is extremely hard. We spend such a long time dedicating ourselves to becoming an expert in something. To change course seems…as thrilling and exciting as it does frivolous and foolhardy.

I’ve noticed that it invites admiration, wistfulness, and envy in others when they first hear of what I’m doing. Then, a distance comes between us as the questions start to come:

Why do something different? “Because I wanted to.”

Why start something new now? “Because I could.”

Why did you do it? “Because if I didn’t try it, I would always wonder.”

When these questions to come, mostly out of curiosity but sometimes with judgment, I have to remember to call myself home, to me.