From Figuring It Out to Making Contact | Blog

I’ve noticed myself trying to figure some things out lately.

Business. Money. Priorities. What comes next.

These are real things that require discernment and potential decisions. I’m not suggesting we abandon all analysis. But I’ve noticed how easy it is to stay in “figuring it out” long after thinking has stopped producing anything new. But I’ve been noticing how easy it is to remain in “figuring it out” long after thinking has stopped producing anything new.

The mind keeps circling. Often, it’s trying to produce certainty that simply isn’t available yet.

That can be a subtle trap.

Trying to figure something out can feel responsible. Productive. We tell ourselves we’re getting clarity.

Sometimes we are. And sometimes we’re lost inside the same thoughts. Searching for certainty. Trying to solve something before we’ve lived enough of it to know.

At some point, thinking about the thing can become a substitute for being with the thing.

Conceptual understanding is one kind of knowing. Direct contact is another.

We can think about what we want. Analyze a relationship. Debate a decision. Strategize about our business.

Another kind of information becomes available when we actually pay attention to what is here.

What we feel. What we notice. What keeps drawing us. What has energy, and what doesn’t. What happens when we take one real step.

You can try to determine whether a relationship is right by making lists. Something much quieter is already being revealed in how you feel when you’re together.

You can think endlessly about the “right” business direction. The response to one conversation, one offer, one experiment tells you more than another month of strategizing.

Life gives us information that thought alone cannot.

And sometimes, of course, we genuinely don’t know yet. We need another conversation. More information. An experiment. Simply more life to happen.

Maybe that’s the part we struggle with most.

Not knowing.

Underneath all the figuring out, what we’re really after is certainty.

Not knowing doesn’t mean we need to think harder. It might mean we need to stay close enough to life for the next piece of information to arrive.

So, what are you trying to figure out right now?

What happens if, for a moment, you stop asking your mind for the answer and make contact with what is actually here?

What do you notice?

What do you already know?

And what might life need to show you next?