Directions is an initiative towards reflection, intention. Nicky is one of my biggest inspirations for investigating both peace and internal violence through suffering - he also happens to be one hell of a writer. Directions is a journal of his inspiration and insight. I hope it brings you some midweek mindfulness, and inspires you to explore as well.

__

Week 1

“Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. […] Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.”

from David Whyte’s
‘Everything is Waiting for You’

A call to move: I would like to offer something of advice to my younger self. Not so I can exercise an anchor of consistency or similitude to combat the pace of modern life, though that thought alone does a bit of stabilizing. I would rather it act as a reminder that all things found are simply found again (Eliot). In that way, nothing can ever be lost. That is one of the several things riding bikes has given me; the opportunity for both formal and informal discovery. Pushing myself (at times, with the help of others, being pulled) to the margins of my capacity is to initiate attention (Weil). The question “why do we do it?” is enough to spend the rest of my life considering. Still, I’m curious why the edge of something is always miraculous? It must not be independent from the method. Form is freedom, unity unhinges; those we meet on the road (or trail) help us meet ourselves, that most sacred return. Then we lose our importance (Duras). To suffer is both impersonal and intimate. And I would prefer to maintain a knowledge of my distress among those driven to do the same. Here’s to the work. - Nicky