“Do more and more with less and less
until eventually you can do everything with nothing”
- Buckminster Fuller
Almost a decade ago, I was working a job that I hated, living in a suffocating situation, and trapped in a suffocating relationship. Somehow, without me even realizing it, everything had become untenable. I was at the end of my rope and knew things needed to change, but didn’t know what, where, or how. I ended up going back to therapy and for the first time began to look honestly at what I wanted for my life. One of the defining decisions I made at that time was a tenuous agreement to listen to my intuition. I wasn’t sure what good it would do or if it could be trusted, but I was going to try. I ended up breaking off the relationship and uprooting my life to move to New York to study interior design. That was the beginning of a long journey toward reclaiming myself.
If someone asked me my process - how I did it - I wouldn’t even know how to sum it up. It almost feels fantastical, as I’m once again at a similar turning point in my life and asking myself all of the same questions.
All I can surmise is that it’s really about gathering clues. Collecting (and also discerning) what applies to your journey.
It’s a constant process of curation: filtering all of the input and stimulation around you for the nuggets of truth that you know innately are what you need - or at least need right now. What will get you to the next checkpoint. At which point you discard and take up something new.
It’s difficult to keep sight of a singular Truth during this process. So difficult. Rather than discovering one truth and using it as a rock to hold onto while prevailing winds try to pull you every which way, I think of it as similar to feeding a fire. This reminds me of how the inimitable author and tarot scholar Melinda Lee Holm conceptualizes the 4 of Wands card. Wands symbolizes the fire element, an inherently unstable element. According to MLH, fours represent a stage of initial stability in that element. So how do you have stability in an unstable element? For me, it’s something like roller skating, skiing, surfing, riding a bike, or any other activity where you need to maintain a steady speed, otherwise you will falter and lose control. Thus, the little clues I pick up, the moments of inspiration I find, and quotes that resonate with me all go into feeding my scramble toward a joyful, creative life.
I suppose that’s my hope for Witness the Earth – to document the nuggets and pearls that stand out to me on my journey – and hopefully inspire you on yours.