One of the most important things to understand,

a cause for so much of our pain and discomfort,

comes down to this simple notion.

Growth is very rarely about getting that magical thing you need

and instead is about eliminating the things that you don't.

It's about less.

If you imagine yourself as a backpacker,

hiking, climbing mountains,

it's instead of filling it with rocks

that don't support where you're going, don't help you with the

ascent, emptying that bag, removing it, and taking with you only the essentials.

There's a story about a woman who loved her garden.

More than anything.

And she'd rise with the sun, she'd kneel in the soil, care for the plants.

Like they were family, right? It was like that important to her.

Watering, trimming, whispering encouragement encouragement like the earth itself was listening.

And over time, her garden became her masterpiece.

But as the seasons passed,

became something else too,

something heavier.

The vines grew wild, the weeds wrapped around the roots, some plants that once bloomed now stood still and lifeless, confined. But she didn't remove them.

She couldn't because she felt like they were a part of her.

...