beautiful things grow out of shit

“What would be really interesting for people to see is how beautiful things grow out of shit, because nobody ever believes that, you know. Everybody thinks that Beethoven had his string quartets completely in his head, they somehow appeared there and formed in his head, and all he had to do was write them down and they would be kind of manifest to the world.

“But what I think what’s so interesting, and what should be a lesson everybody should learn, is that things come out of nothing. Things evolve out of nothing. You know, the tiniest seed in the right situation turns into the most beautiful forest. And then the most promising seed, in the wrong situation, turns into nothing.

“And I think that this would be important for people to understand because it gives people confidence in their own lives to know that that’s how things work. If you walk around with the idea that there are some people who are so gifted, they have these wonderful things in their head, but you’re not one of them, you’re just sort of a normal person, you could never do anything like that, then you live a different kind of life, you know.

“You could have another kind of life where you can say, where you say, ‘Well, I know that things comes from nothing very much and start from unpromising beginnings, and I’m an unpromising beginning, and I could start something.'”

🌍

 

no one else gives this to you

smoke ’em if you got ’em

 

We already

have what we need.

The wisdom, the strength,

the confidence, the awakened heart

and mind are always accessible here and now.

We are just uncovering them. We are rediscovering

them. We’re not inventing them or importing

them from somewhere else.

They’re here.

 

That’s why

when we feel caught

in darkness, suddenly the clouds

can part. Out of nowhere we cheer up

or relax or experience the vastness

of our minds. No one else

gives this to

you.

 

Pema Chodron