What Do I Need to Know?

While writing my morning journal today, I realized I didn’t have any ideas of what to write. That’s nothing new. I often have no idea what I will write until it starts rolling. For that reason and many, it remains challenging to go to the desk, sit down, and start. But I show up and try, so that’s something. More than that, it’s everything.

In the absence of any ideas, I decided to do an interesting activity, one I’ve done many times over the years. I asked myself, “What do I need to know today?” And then sat quietly and waited. And sat quietly. And waited. Breathing in and breathing out, “What do I need to know today?” Over time, these items came up:

• Wisdom is always available, when I’m still enough to remember, and even when I’m not.

• Be still. No matter what the day brings, no matter the activity, find stillness.

• Allow life to be as it is, and get out of the way.

• Control what you can; and the only thing you can control is yourself. So practice that.

• Practice courage. Practice kindness. Practice stillness. Practice patience—there is no need to hurry.

• Practice being, without resistance. Don’t resist yourself, your choices, your behavior. And watch them closely. Observation heals.

• Remember this moment and return to it. There is no other.

This is what I need to know today. It's pretty much the stuff I need to know everyday.

What do you need to know?