Acorn - Potential

Dear Friend,

I love to learn.

I love gathering new skills, new experiences, new ways of seeing the world. I love taking classes and learning from people who know things I don't know. Curiosity is one of the things that makes me feel most alive, and I hope I never stop learning.

But lately I've been thinking about the difference between growing because something lights me up and trying to become more because some part of me believes I'm not quite enough yet.

An acorn doesn't have this problem.

Everything an oak will become is already held in potential within that tiny seed. The acorn doesn't need to learn how to become an oak. It doesn't need to prove that it is worthy of becoming one.

But it does need the right conditions to grow.

It needs soil and water. It needs sunlight and the right temperature. It needs enough space to send down roots and eventually stretch up toward the sky. An acorn can hold all the potential in the world, but where it lands matters.

I think the same is true for us.

We spend so much time thinking about what we need to change about ourselves. What else do I need to learn? What do I need to work on? How can I be more disciplined, more confident, more successful, more healed?

But what if, sometimes, a better question is:

What are the conditions in which I thrive?

In this modern culture, everyone will tell us what we need in order to thrive, and they'll likely have a $27 introductory course to teach us how to do it!

But I believe we all know intrinsically what we need in order to thrive. That knowing is placed right in the center of our hearts, where it is kept safe. I think of it as our internal compass.

It's in the feelings and desires of your heart, of your essential self. The things you are naturally drawn to. The things you do and lose track of time. The things that make you giggle, take a deep cleansing breath, or put your hand on your heart because you're so moved.

These aren't frivolous preferences. They are information.

They are pointing us toward our own particular growing conditions.

I know I need time alone in nature, joyful movement, quiet mornings, time at the ocean, and time to draw and write. One of my best friends feels most alive eating really good food, hopping on airplanes for international travel, and listening to live music.

There is no single right environment for a human being any more than there is one set of growing conditions for every plant. We all thrive a little differently. But I think we recognize our own growing conditions by the way they make us feel: expansive, free, more fully ourselves.

Of course, none of us gets perfect growing conditions all the time. Life brings droughts and storms and long winters. There are responsibilities we cannot simply walk away from and seasons when we have to make do with what we have. And like the oak, these difficult seasons strengthen us. They help us grow deeper roots.

And especially during these times, it matters to know what nourishes us.

Because when we know, we can begin to give ourselves more of it. It doesn't have to happen in big ways. Sometimes it's best to focus on the small ones. A walk outside. An afternoon to make something. Dinner with a bestie. An hour alone. Music in the kitchen. A class we've wanted to take. A little more room for whatever makes us feel most alive.

We don't have to force ourselves into becoming someone else.

We can pay attention to the conditions that allow more of who we already are to emerge.

So this week, I want to leave you with a question:

What do you need in order to be more fully you?

Love,
Carrie