I'm Maggie Smith, and this is The Slowdown.

We're surrounded by advice.

Social media is full of it, clips telling whoever will listen how to do any number of things.

Hacks for styling and outfit, parenting tips, strategies to improve mobility, tricks for meal prep, ways to save money,

help with mental health issues, and, of course, things that we should buy alongside ideas

that we should buy into. And then there are more classic sources of advice, like newspaper columns

and phone calls with parents or other relatives. There are government guidelines and public

health orders. And religion, too, helps many people find guidance.

It makes me think of the classic piece of advice in the form of a question.

What would Jesus do?

You could never actually know the answer to that question.

It asks you to find your own certainty, to find what you believe.

In a world where people are giving advice left and right, I see more and more people struggling

with uncertainty. Right now, I hear so many stories of people having a hard time holding on to sureness.

And of course, I see a lot of advice on how to sit with uncertainty.

I'm someone who has more curiosity than certainty about spiritual matters.

I don't know anything for sure. I have a restless spirit, but I'm grateful to poets and poetry

who make me feel like my questions are worth asking. There are so many things to be curious about right in front of us.

Poetry, instead of asking questions like, how did I get here? Or, what should I do?

Often deals more with the senses. Questions like, what did it look like? How does it sound, taste,

feel? Questions that ask us to witness. Much of the advice we receive assumes we have a level of

control. But life doesn't always work like that.

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