Essays of Encouragement
Intentions for Dawn
“Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens, we have to go back and begin all over again.”
André Gide
In a world obsessed with novelty, it’s easy to believe we need to chase after new secrets to life. But the truth is much simpler: we just need to keep bumping into the old ones, over and over again.
Below are five “Essays of Encouragement” - inspired by the work of Hugh Prather. They’re some of the best tools I have for attitudinal healing, and while you can read them anytime, I’ve found they’re especially potent at dawn - first thing - when the mind is calm and fresh and most receptive.1
Feel free to scroll through them here or download a PDF that includes a few personal annotations. As my friends and family know well, I like to give books as gifts, and they’re a little more special when they come with scribbled notes in the margins.
Essays of Encouragement
Listen & Receive
In Search of a Narrative
Alternative Routes of Attention
The Paradox of Progress
The Hidden Answer
1 - Listen & Receive
The truth doesn't lie outside of me. I can trust that it's within my capacity to know. If I quiet my mind enough - and transcend my ego enough - I can hear how it all really is.
Today I will pause frequently and listen to the sure counsel of my own sanity; I will consult myself deeply and often, because in my heart, I am already very gentle. If I am more myself - my core and true self - I will naturally become who I want to be, and my spiritual makeover will be inevitable.
Anything that comes up today - anything at all - can’t block me if I simply look into myself, see what I believe, and practice it. This is the path based on truth, and the ideal it leads me to becomes increasingly clear the longer I walk it.
2 - In Search of a Narrative
Because nothing I see holds any absolute meaning, I am free to give it whatever meaning I choose. How do I want to interpret what is happening?
What he said, what she did… his tone of voice, her face or body... his use of certain words, her gestures and expressions…
They mean only what I choose to see and hear. Let me deny any dark assertions and choose perceptions that affirm the good. The world is not solid and immovable; it is open to new readings.
3 - Alternative Routes of Attention
At any time, I can turn from what I can't improve to what I can...
If I can't heal my body, I can lose interest in being sick.
If I can’t make someone stop criticizing me, I can rest from analyzing their motives and defending my actions.
If I can’t change my appearance, I can turn away from the exhausting attempts to edit it into perfection.
If I can’t help but endure a difficulty, I can do so without tracing its causes and endlessly projecting out its future pain.
When I can’t let go of a problem completely, I can at least loosen my grip a little. I alone choose what preoccupies me, and my mind can always open to create some softness around its edges.
4 - The Paradox of Progress
What has a better chance of bringing me happiness…
Fantasizing about new relationships or paying attention to the love I have in front of me? Dreaming of a future payoff or recognizing that I am already rich in the ways that matter? Planning small victories over others or tapping into our underlying unity?
Isn't one kind use of my mind a more practical act than a thousand vain imaginings? Why do I fill my thoughts with scenes that temporarily entertain me but never bring true satisfaction? When will I accept the concrete truth of now and recognize that my thoughts about tomorrow are empty?
How I would like things to be is irrelevant. Unless I begin with life as it is, I am centered on an illusion. The paradox of progress is that I grow each time I realize that I can only ever be where I am.
5 - The Hidden Answer
Release, forgive, find peace.
This is the lesson. This is all that needs to be learned. Forgiveness is the sanctuary, the ancient secret, the hidden answer, the practical truth.
Just forgive. Clear out your resentments, forget past injustices, and set all things free from troubled memories and downhearted anticipations.
Let loose, let go, let be. It’s so simple.
Forgive and be happy.
That is the only message that you need to listen to, the only wisdom ever to be attained.
In the middle of a busy day, ideas like these don’t stick to us; they tend to bounce off and not connect. At dawn, however, there’s receptivity in the mind; ideas have the space to really sink in and become alive inside of us.
If you don't have a morning quiet time, I recommend you build one. Everything wisdom has to offer is possible with a morning quiet time, but without it, the instruction will seem far away.