Jesse Steele

Fixing people is wearisome. It’s not really our role, anyway. Maybe that’s why its so wearisome. So, if fixing people isn’t any job for people, what is?

Light is abundant in our electric-powered civilization. Before electricity, light was valued and the night outright oppressive. Travel was nearly impossible at night and usually cost the price of lamp oil. Simply being a free light for others can make a difference that the ancient world may have understood better than we can today. Showing unexpected kindness, repaying hostility with love, and making difficult peace does more than fixing could ever hope to.  · · · →

When someone is determined to self-destruct, don’t watch with anger; watch with love.

Of course, sometimes people won’t hear advice—they won’t listen, they won’t accept warnings, they can’t heed to save their own lives. It is as if they want to force everyone else to watch them self-destruct. Some of us grow up to the point where we are willing to throw up our hands and not interfere. But, most of us only grow up enough to let go with resentment. That’s not enough either. We must let other people fall because we love them, not because we don’t.  · · · →

Taking surprises is connected to patience. Rolling with punches means being fluid—something patience requires. Things never happen how we expect; if they do then we should be suspicious. Navigating life means going with the flow. If you can’t learn that, you’ll want to give up. If you can, then you will see every surprise as an opportunity to become more fluid. And, being fluid is its own reward.

You know the feeling of being on a calm ocean or a beach or a high overlook in nature. If you can be fluid, then you can become that calmness yourself.  · · · →

Conversation can be good. Teaching can be good. Learning can be good. Stillness in our time alone can be good. But, shared silence can also be good.

If silence is golden, shared silence is platinum. We have a need to be with other people and for silence. Putting the two together—to enjoy mutual silence—is part of what it means to “just be with” people. No relationship has any constant need to teach, antagonize, energize, encourage, or even support—except that relationships require being with someone. The “be with” part is the only constant. Sometimes, practice just that part.  · · · →