you must care for what you want to be kept alive

You must care for what you want to be kept alive.

If you want health, you must care for how you live and what you expose your senses to. You must care for something so simple: sitting in stillness and connecting with what is invisible to the eye for it is what’s most essential.

If you want contentment, you must care to appreciate what has already been given. The bed that holds you when you need one most. A shower for cleansing. Two feet and an able body to take you to your places. The gift of choice and choosing. The gift of sun and sky.

If you want meaningful relationships, you must care for the outreach. You must ask questions like, “How did that conversation you told me you were worried about go?” because you pay attention to the details of what the one you love shares with you. You must tend to the responses because the inquiry is not enough. You must care for the entire process of relating and give it your honest effort because this is nurturance.

You must not take people for granted either; remember the one who came to your aid when you needed support, the one who extended themselves so you wouldn’t feel alone, the one who shares their love even when you don’t. Then care for their presence by giving yours. 

If you want wisdom, you must not entangle yourself in the man made world. Value your deepest joy over money. Value sincerity over popularity. Value remaining true to who you are over compromising yourself to fit in or be liked.

If you want truth, you must care to know who you truly are. No more seeing yourself through someone else’s mind. Each mind has its own limitations and the mind is not you. No more seeing yourself through a mirror. The body is a vessel and it holds what is real. Find what is real. Search for it like the only quest that has ever mattered because it really is the only quest that has ever mattered. 

Now close the eyes. Turn the attention inside. See yourself from your heart — the one and only place where unconditional love and faith reside. Breathe and remember again.

In this brief but precious journey, you must care for what you want kept alive. You must tend to it and kindle it like a bright, burning fire. Otherwise, it dies.