L E O N I E . W I S E

the glittering object of desire is often seen as the answer to all present difficulties. the natural thought is that; with this incredible thing, with this incredible woman, with this car, with this workspace, i will be different. a person without the problems i possess now. but there are manifold drawbacks…

…it is a want that may actually be a way of stopping real things from happening.
- david whyte. the three marriages: reimagining work, self and relationship

i could think of at least a dozen times that this has been true in my own life. those times when i think about how much better my life would be if only i had a bigger desk or an allocated room for all my creative projects. how i could take better pictures if i had a better camera. how a new mixing bowl or item of fancy kitchen equipment will almost certainly guarantee that i am a better cook. how that very sparkley object is, without doubt, going to change my life if only i could have it right now. or, i would be successful or feel beautiful if only i had … (with conditions attached).

david whyte has me thinking about the possibility that i might be preventing real things from happening in my own life whilst i am seeking answers through obtaining desirable objects.

he leaves me wanting to be more mindful of future objects that i introduce into my already cluttered life.

these thoughts also goad me into taking a good look at all the things i currently have in my life that might have arrived there from me imagining (consciously or unconsciously) that they were an answer to a difficulty/problem.

…it sets one to dream to think about being called out to greater things…
…but at the end of it all when we put any book down, no matter how inspiring, we are left facing ourselves in the mirror, with the need to get up each morning walk out the door and live our own lives.
- david whyte. the three marriages: reimagining work, self and relationship

In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in the dark wood where the true way was wholly lost.
–dante

heard on Clear Mind, Wild Heart, read by the author David Whyte