Sometimes the answers you seek…
Will never be found by thinking harder.
Put your hands to work.
Let your mind rest.
Most of us spend our days doing.
Doing this.
Doing that.
Solving problems.
Making decisions.
Checking messages.
Paying bills.
Meeting deadlines.
Running from one responsibility to the next.
Our minds become crowded with information, worries, plans, and endless conversations.
Then one day we discover something.
The answers we need are not coming.
No matter how much we think.
No matter how much we worry.
No matter how many times we replay the situation.
The answer refuses to appear.
What then?
One solution is surprisingly simple.
WORK WITH YOUR HANDS.
When you work with your hands, something interesting happens.
Part of the mind grows quiet.
The endless mental chatter begins to slow down.
Your insides begin catching up with your outsides.
A peaceful balance starts to return.
I do not care what you do.
Garden.
Paint.
Draw.
Sweep.
Wash the car.
Organize a closet.
Build something.
Fix something.
Chop wood.
Plant flowers.
Work with clay.
Cook a meal.
The activity itself is not the point.
The point is to become fully present in what you are doing.
STAY OUT OF YOUR THOUGHTS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
STAY IN THE MOMENT.
THAT IS WHERE INSIGHT LIVES.
Even better, if you can break your routine.
Leave your normal environment.
Go to the mountains.
Visit the desert.
Walk along the ocean.
Sit beside a lake.
Find a place where life slows down enough for you to hear yourself again.
Many people spend their lives trapped inside their own heads.
Round and round they go.
Like a hamster running on a wheel.
Busy.
Exhausted.
Yet never arriving anywhere.
The mind is a wonderful servant.
But a terrible master.
As I have learned over the years, you cannot think your way into every answer.
Some answers must be received.
That is why working with your hands can be so powerful.
While your hands are occupied, your deeper self begins to speak.
An insight appears.
A realization surfaces.
A solution arrives.
An old burden suddenly makes sense.
An answer quietly walks through a door that was locked moments earlier.
The beautiful part is this:
You were not forcing it.
You were allowing it.
One of the lessons from Pearls for the Soul is that the answers often arrive when we stop chasing them.
I remember spending time at the beach with no agenda whatsoever.
A towel.
Some lunch.
The sound of the waves.
Nothing important to accomplish.
At one point I started digging in the sand.
Building walls.
Making channels for the water.
Children wandered over and joined in.
Nobody asked for instructions.
Nobody needed a plan.
Nobody worried about outcomes.
We simply played.
And in that simplicity was a lesson.
Children understand something adults often forget.
Life is meant to be experienced.
Not merely analyzed.
Another place to observe this is a preschool.
Watch children interact.
No hidden agenda.
No image to protect.
No complicated strategy.
No endless mental gymnastics.
Just curiosity.
Wonder.
Presence.
Play.
That child you are watching was once you.
The question becomes:
What happened?
Where did that simplicity go?
Perhaps it never left.
Perhaps it is simply waiting for an invitation.
The next time life feels overwhelming…
The next time you need answers…
The next time confusion settles in…
Put your hands to work.
Slow down.
Become present.
Let life breathe.
You may discover that the answers you have been chasing have been patiently waiting for you to become quiet enough to hear them.
See you at the beach…
Or in the garden…
Or wherever your hands lead you.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
Been expecting you