“Going nowhere requires a willingness to show up for how life presents itself, not how we think it should be—to wander slowly and very much at random…” Absolutely beautiful and wise. I always come away feeling so enriched and soothed after reading every one of your essays. Thank you for the gift of your words, Kimberly. 🌸
I feel the same about your writing Trivarna. There's an economy and stillness to your essays that always pierce right into my heart. So happy my essay spoke to you today.
When I go skate these days a lot of the time it is at the same skatepark, at night, alone. And I roll around and around trying to relearn old tricks I could once do — before injuries, life, and ageing took them from me — and a lot of the time it feels like, I’m going nowhere and getting nowhere.
But as you so eloquently put it, when I’m there doing that, I am certainly, now here.
What a great, real life example Michael. I love picturing you circling around and around and around on your board. The mind at first caught up in “what once was” but your body eventually leading the way and saying “this is perfect.”
"responding to life over purposing life" ~ I love this!
and this: "Going nowhere requires a willingness to show up for how life presents itself, not how we think it should be..."
Going now-here, in every moment, in any situation in life changes everything!
A real life example: We are currently in the process of selling a property, and everything you write in this post seems so incredibly appropriate!! Instead of trying to control and push along the transaction according to our wishes, we decided from the beginning to "let the right thing do itself."
It's slightly different but similar to "going nowhere" in the sense that we "let life present itself." The experience is quite transformative. Instead of getting stressed out about 'what might or might not happen' we deal with every step as "now-here."
It feels like living the story of our own life in real time... each day presenting another plot twist.... Being protagonists and observers simultaneously is most entertaining. Thank you so much for this piece 🙏 💕
“Let the right thing do itself.” Love that. Life really does know how to “do itself” and oh how we like to muddy up that process. Your real life example is such a good demonstration of how much the worry and anxiety and stress of life’s transactions are unnecessary and can rob us of the simple joys of “living the story of our life in real time.” I relax in a deep cellular level just saying that last quote of yours. 🙏
A beautiful post, Kimberly. Lots for me to reflect on here, after a life of travel. Reading your beautiful words, no where feels like a destination, now here like a destiny.
Eeeeee! That last line of yours thrills me! I have to type it out and commit it to memory. "No where feels like a destination, now here like a destiny." Thank you for engraving this beautiful phrase in my mind today.
“Like the delicate pads of a dragonfly foot alighting on the surface of a pond, we arrive each time we hear before identifying, see beyond evaluating, touch without othering.”
Your writing is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Every sentence and word you put together astounds me - this essay blew me away. And at a much needed time. I hung on every word. It changed my day. Everyone near and far should experience your writing. It’s genius. Thank you a million times over.
Oh Marychris, your comment fills me with encouragement! In our world that praises achievement, self-fulfillment and goals, I'm happy that my kitties and the natural world are teaching the opposite. Perhaps the words flowed more from them than me, but I'm quite happy to be their conduit. Thank you for your kindest embrace, I hope whatever it is that unfurled in you while reading this lasts throughout your days.
I love this. As a yoga teacher I said, "Going nowhere, doing nothing." in what must have been every yoga class for many years. So much so that when my daughter turned 18 she had it tattooed on her foot. Thank you!
What a lovely thing for your daughter to do! I love your addition "doing nothing" - just whispering this phrase immediately calms, grounds and brings me into the moment. Your yoga students are lucky to have you in their lives!
"the best way to move about the world is with fluidity, unattached to expectation, responding to life over purposing life"
and
"Much of creativity requires going nowhere—a willingness to transcend the space-time continuum to experiment, be curious, and free fall in the field of awareness where happy accidents guide invention"
(I could keep going quoting the whole thing ;))
So wonderful, inspiring and wise. This is all so true. I need to read and hear this on a regular basis. Too often the propellant of work creates a "AND WHAT ELSE?" mindset of pushing achievements and goals and looking forwards instead of just being here and loving that moment.
Haha, I wonder how your colleagues would appreciate “going nowhere” in the context of research, seems a bit of an oxymoron. Certainly a place for going somewhere AND nowhere, just balancing out the tipped scale over here.:)
You know, early on in my research career I heard a talk by the Dean of a college of medicine and he said to everyone to make time to just stop what you're doing and sit and think about the work you're doing and how it fits into the bigger picture of the science. To reflect and allow ideas to form. I think he was onto something. We often don't get a chance to do that, or it's not instilled enough as a valid use of time.
Zen servant might be more appropriate! I love that you're into this series. If you ever have a suggestion for a future defense, I'm all ears. I have a running list but many lose their weight or seem quite absurd after they sit in my Notes app for a while... like "In Defense of Salad Greens in One's Teeth." :) I don't know what I was sniffing that day to actually write it down but it's there!
I'm laughing outloud! Well, you know there is a bit of overlap in our ways of wondering about the vicissitudes of life. I'll let you know what suggestions come. In the meantime, I'll be going nowhere/now here.
Kimberly, you are so gifted with words. I love this and feel every single bit of it as if it lived inside of me as well. Your description of being with Dylan had me wet-eyed again. That is life personified, while the rest of world are running at such a pace, to think of your servant hands "feeling energy" inside of someone else who cannot move, is our cats in the garden touching and feeling every gift we take for granted and trample over. Thank you again for this beautiful piece. A great way to begin the week. (I was writing a piece on "waiting" in regards to our creativity - and waiting can often feel like going nowhere - yet it's rewards of authenticity, in the end, are worth that space). ox
Beautiful synchrony friend. Waiting indeed is a form of going no where, especially when we can be joyful about it. I’ve found some of my favorite moments and thoughts have come from “waiting for the bus” or “waiting in line.” Thank you for your keen reflections. Oh how I wish we could go visit Dylan together!
The vision of that visit gave me tears. Oh how I wish that too. I see my sons in him. I see your servant hands and I am overwhelmed. It’s hard to have the words. I am humbled and thankful for this community and for finding you. I wanted to figure out a way of seeing you on our trip and as you might have seen, my very strong (never sick) John brought a good case of Covid with him. It was quite the trip. Lots of isolation, the blessing of caring for him and then my brother, and the sudden collapsing of his 9 yr old lab dog, while mom and I somehow kept standing! We even did a podcast. She is still doing amazing at 88 and on the way home I got it! ugh! During our time we got to take two drives. Up the Santiam Canyon, where I was overwhelmed with memories, seeing the rebuilding after the great fire, and down to the beach to run the dogs on Roads End. All after John was clear and in great outdoor spaces. I thought of you on that beach. But I knew we couldn’t be with anyone. Now I’m craving a vacation from our vacation, however, I am blessed in this stillness of going nowhere. Someday, we will meet in person. ox
Oh my, what a bummer experience on vacation. Dave and I are finally testing negative after 3.5 weeks of covid and then relapse, just on the heels of our two week vacation. I kept thinking how glad I was to not be sick while away from home so my heart goes out to John. I hope both of you are feeling strong again. Oregon misses you!
I can testify that my best, most creative work comes from allowing the space to wander. In this series you always find an unexpected angle to explore that uncovers something worth exploring deeper which you do with such skill and thoughtfulness.
I thought about your creativity while thinking on this topic, and feel very much that openness with all your endeavors. I'm realizing now that I didn't use the word "trust" in this entire essay, but in its essence, that what it's all about. And from everything I've learned about you, you enter into this wandering realm with great trust. Thank you for such a thoughtful reflection Ben.
Kimberly, if I could weave you into a web to throw over the whole of earth, I would. A soft cocoon to lighten the blows of life made from purity of heart and the magic stardust that is you. This left me with the most beautiful fat tears. Your experience with Dylan made them flow full force.
Reading your work is like taking the biggest exhale, the sweetest release where our humanity can finally unfurl and hang out together. What a gift! I needed this reminder. Thank you.
I want to be a web! Let's become conjoining webs. What a lovely thought, to be a physical cocoon for all of life's hardships. Not to fix, just to hold., so in good time, the transformation can occur. You share such depth and beauty in your reply, and I return it with the fattest hug of gratitude. To hear that some mess of thought inside my body translated to a big exhale in yours makes me exhale too. x
“Going nowhere requires a willingness to show up for how life presents itself, not how we think it should be—to wander slowly and very much at random…” Absolutely beautiful and wise. I always come away feeling so enriched and soothed after reading every one of your essays. Thank you for the gift of your words, Kimberly. 🌸
I feel the same about your writing Trivarna. There's an economy and stillness to your essays that always pierce right into my heart. So happy my essay spoke to you today.
Beautiful Kimberly! Truly lovely words.
When I go skate these days a lot of the time it is at the same skatepark, at night, alone. And I roll around and around trying to relearn old tricks I could once do — before injuries, life, and ageing took them from me — and a lot of the time it feels like, I’m going nowhere and getting nowhere.
But as you so eloquently put it, when I’m there doing that, I am certainly, now here.
Thank you :)
What a great, real life example Michael. I love picturing you circling around and around and around on your board. The mind at first caught up in “what once was” but your body eventually leading the way and saying “this is perfect.”
Exactly :)
I find myself giving myself permission, over and over again, to be unproductive. I loved this.
Isn’t it a wonderful antidote to this world’s noise?
"responding to life over purposing life" ~ I love this!
and this: "Going nowhere requires a willingness to show up for how life presents itself, not how we think it should be..."
Going now-here, in every moment, in any situation in life changes everything!
A real life example: We are currently in the process of selling a property, and everything you write in this post seems so incredibly appropriate!! Instead of trying to control and push along the transaction according to our wishes, we decided from the beginning to "let the right thing do itself."
It's slightly different but similar to "going nowhere" in the sense that we "let life present itself." The experience is quite transformative. Instead of getting stressed out about 'what might or might not happen' we deal with every step as "now-here."
It feels like living the story of our own life in real time... each day presenting another plot twist.... Being protagonists and observers simultaneously is most entertaining. Thank you so much for this piece 🙏 💕
“Let the right thing do itself.” Love that. Life really does know how to “do itself” and oh how we like to muddy up that process. Your real life example is such a good demonstration of how much the worry and anxiety and stress of life’s transactions are unnecessary and can rob us of the simple joys of “living the story of our life in real time.” I relax in a deep cellular level just saying that last quote of yours. 🙏
A beautiful post, Kimberly. Lots for me to reflect on here, after a life of travel. Reading your beautiful words, no where feels like a destination, now here like a destiny.
Eeeeee! That last line of yours thrills me! I have to type it out and commit it to memory. "No where feels like a destination, now here like a destiny." Thank you for engraving this beautiful phrase in my mind today.
“Like the delicate pads of a dragonfly foot alighting on the surface of a pond, we arrive each time we hear before identifying, see beyond evaluating, touch without othering.”
You’re a word/truth magician, my friend.
What a lovely thing to say dear Holly. Wish I could wave my magical wandering over to you in Southern Oregon today so we could go nowhere together. ;)
Definition here of the willingness to be open to the limits of time.
I love how you use "open" and "limits" in one sentence— together they make my brain blur into happy surrender.
Your writing is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Every sentence and word you put together astounds me - this essay blew me away. And at a much needed time. I hung on every word. It changed my day. Everyone near and far should experience your writing. It’s genius. Thank you a million times over.
Oh Marychris, your comment fills me with encouragement! In our world that praises achievement, self-fulfillment and goals, I'm happy that my kitties and the natural world are teaching the opposite. Perhaps the words flowed more from them than me, but I'm quite happy to be their conduit. Thank you for your kindest embrace, I hope whatever it is that unfurled in you while reading this lasts throughout your days.
I love this. As a yoga teacher I said, "Going nowhere, doing nothing." in what must have been every yoga class for many years. So much so that when my daughter turned 18 she had it tattooed on her foot. Thank you!
What a lovely thing for your daughter to do! I love your addition "doing nothing" - just whispering this phrase immediately calms, grounds and brings me into the moment. Your yoga students are lucky to have you in their lives!
Thank you again. 😊
"the best way to move about the world is with fluidity, unattached to expectation, responding to life over purposing life"
and
"Much of creativity requires going nowhere—a willingness to transcend the space-time continuum to experiment, be curious, and free fall in the field of awareness where happy accidents guide invention"
(I could keep going quoting the whole thing ;))
So wonderful, inspiring and wise. This is all so true. I need to read and hear this on a regular basis. Too often the propellant of work creates a "AND WHAT ELSE?" mindset of pushing achievements and goals and looking forwards instead of just being here and loving that moment.
Haha, I wonder how your colleagues would appreciate “going nowhere” in the context of research, seems a bit of an oxymoron. Certainly a place for going somewhere AND nowhere, just balancing out the tipped scale over here.:)
Hehe.
You know, early on in my research career I heard a talk by the Dean of a college of medicine and he said to everyone to make time to just stop what you're doing and sit and think about the work you're doing and how it fits into the bigger picture of the science. To reflect and allow ideas to form. I think he was onto something. We often don't get a chance to do that, or it's not instilled enough as a valid use of time.
Kimberly, I am a huge fan of “In Defense of,” as you know. With “Going Nowhere,” you are the Zen master of Substack.
In praise of going nowhere!
Zen servant might be more appropriate! I love that you're into this series. If you ever have a suggestion for a future defense, I'm all ears. I have a running list but many lose their weight or seem quite absurd after they sit in my Notes app for a while... like "In Defense of Salad Greens in One's Teeth." :) I don't know what I was sniffing that day to actually write it down but it's there!
I'm laughing outloud! Well, you know there is a bit of overlap in our ways of wondering about the vicissitudes of life. I'll let you know what suggestions come. In the meantime, I'll be going nowhere/now here.
Kimberly, you are so gifted with words. I love this and feel every single bit of it as if it lived inside of me as well. Your description of being with Dylan had me wet-eyed again. That is life personified, while the rest of world are running at such a pace, to think of your servant hands "feeling energy" inside of someone else who cannot move, is our cats in the garden touching and feeling every gift we take for granted and trample over. Thank you again for this beautiful piece. A great way to begin the week. (I was writing a piece on "waiting" in regards to our creativity - and waiting can often feel like going nowhere - yet it's rewards of authenticity, in the end, are worth that space). ox
Beautiful synchrony friend. Waiting indeed is a form of going no where, especially when we can be joyful about it. I’ve found some of my favorite moments and thoughts have come from “waiting for the bus” or “waiting in line.” Thank you for your keen reflections. Oh how I wish we could go visit Dylan together!
The vision of that visit gave me tears. Oh how I wish that too. I see my sons in him. I see your servant hands and I am overwhelmed. It’s hard to have the words. I am humbled and thankful for this community and for finding you. I wanted to figure out a way of seeing you on our trip and as you might have seen, my very strong (never sick) John brought a good case of Covid with him. It was quite the trip. Lots of isolation, the blessing of caring for him and then my brother, and the sudden collapsing of his 9 yr old lab dog, while mom and I somehow kept standing! We even did a podcast. She is still doing amazing at 88 and on the way home I got it! ugh! During our time we got to take two drives. Up the Santiam Canyon, where I was overwhelmed with memories, seeing the rebuilding after the great fire, and down to the beach to run the dogs on Roads End. All after John was clear and in great outdoor spaces. I thought of you on that beach. But I knew we couldn’t be with anyone. Now I’m craving a vacation from our vacation, however, I am blessed in this stillness of going nowhere. Someday, we will meet in person. ox
Oh my, what a bummer experience on vacation. Dave and I are finally testing negative after 3.5 weeks of covid and then relapse, just on the heels of our two week vacation. I kept thinking how glad I was to not be sick while away from home so my heart goes out to John. I hope both of you are feeling strong again. Oregon misses you!
I can testify that my best, most creative work comes from allowing the space to wander. In this series you always find an unexpected angle to explore that uncovers something worth exploring deeper which you do with such skill and thoughtfulness.
I thought about your creativity while thinking on this topic, and feel very much that openness with all your endeavors. I'm realizing now that I didn't use the word "trust" in this entire essay, but in its essence, that what it's all about. And from everything I've learned about you, you enter into this wandering realm with great trust. Thank you for such a thoughtful reflection Ben.
"His stillness is dancing." A reminder that even in stillness, there is movement. Beautiful writing, Kimberly.
Thank you for reading Jane. Dylan’s life is such an important teacher for all of us.
Furus! Aren't they, though? 😂 This is so beautiful, Kim, and so true - you captured it beautifully. 🩷💙💜
Not so much into cults but if one was led by a furu, consider me a lifetime devotee!
FURUS!!!!!! Ah!!!
Kimberly, if I could weave you into a web to throw over the whole of earth, I would. A soft cocoon to lighten the blows of life made from purity of heart and the magic stardust that is you. This left me with the most beautiful fat tears. Your experience with Dylan made them flow full force.
Reading your work is like taking the biggest exhale, the sweetest release where our humanity can finally unfurl and hang out together. What a gift! I needed this reminder. Thank you.
I want to be a web! Let's become conjoining webs. What a lovely thought, to be a physical cocoon for all of life's hardships. Not to fix, just to hold., so in good time, the transformation can occur. You share such depth and beauty in your reply, and I return it with the fattest hug of gratitude. To hear that some mess of thought inside my body translated to a big exhale in yours makes me exhale too. x