What is one to do when you don’t know what to do? How do we choose how and where to put the next foot right when the way forward is unclear?<\/p>\n

When I write, I usually know where to go. But this time, there’s a topic lurking just under the surface. So I canoodle around on the keyboard<\/a> and hope it will decide to join me. Like so many of my writer friends, our current state of affairs has taken creative skills on something resembling Mr. Toad\u2019s wild ride. Sometimes we focus and the words come spilling out. Sometimes they even come out in the right order. Life\u2019s uncertainty can create space for good things to happen as easily as it can drain us of purpose and focus \u2014 except when it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”I canoodle around on the keyboard and hope it decides to join me.” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what else to do with an unruly topic: it won\u2019t go away and leave me alone but it remains elusive, flat out refusing to become clear. In a way, it reminds me of a pan of water on the stove, just before it starts to boil. There’s a bubble here, and another one over there. And, while their activity level looks a bit leisurely, those bubbles are part of a much bigger picture. They are part of building energy, an energy<\/a> that will not only heat water but will change part of it from liquid to gas. Steam.<\/p>\n

And a change in form is a type of magic, is it not? The stage magician enlists our willingness to be fooled as the \u2018nothing\u2019 behind an ear suddenly produces coins. We don\u2019t know how it happens. Alchemy. Magic. A change in form. While it looks simple, it\u2019s a really big, complex change. Just like boiling water.<\/p>\n

When you stop and think about it, there\u2019s a lot of alchemic activity swirling around us. The first one that comes to mind is that thing with breath: humans using oxygen which changes to carbon dioxide for trees that then return it to us in its original, usable form. Our airy waste feeds the trees while theirs becomes the source of life for so many air-breathing beings wandering the planet. It\u2019s another matter-changing bit of magic.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”There\u2019s a lot of alchemic activity swirling around us.” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

Nature provides other examples: snow melts, ponds freeze, and at certain times of year something\u2019s probably hatching almost anywhere we choose to look.<\/p>\n

Of course the most familiar example of form-changing experiences is the transition from caterpillar to moth or butterfly.<\/a> And while it\u2019s a metaphor that\u2019s been done to death there\u2019s a good reason: it\u2019s an example that give us solid toeholds for learning.<\/p>\n

Think about it… you\u2019re this little wormy bug thing, wandering around, munching on plants. Some of your friends and neighbors get picked off by weather or birds or well-intended gardeners who don\u2019t know any better. But you\u2019re still there… moving from plant to plant, having your fill. Did you know some species of caterpillar eat as much as 27,000 times their body weight during this part of the life cycle? But, as often happens, I digress.<\/p>\n

Somehow, those little critters enter the dark place, are turned into a type of goo and are born again \u2014 this time in a more beautiful form. And in this new form, the creature feeds on completely different parts of the plant than it did in it\u2019s last life. Sometimes when I watch the butterflies visiting various garden plants I wonder if they remember the food preferences their caterpillar-selves enjoyed? What carries forward from their previous life? What falls by the wayside?<\/p>\n

They have nothing to say (and little to do) about this. Caterpillars that survive long enough to face metamorphosis become moths. Or butterflies. Puddles freeze and dandelions go to seed. Water on a hot burner will boil. Perhaps they don\u2019t know it\u2019s coming. It\u2019s just what happens. They don\u2019t struggle with acceptance.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”They don\u2019t need to have faith and I doubt they fear the unknown.” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

So what do you do when you don\u2019t know what to do? Hopefully, not much. I plan to try to learn to do less. To stand in place and take the next obviously correct action. Like caterpillars, dandelions, and hot water \u2014 the change is gonna come. No amount of \u00a0hand-wringing or pot-stirring is going to make that any different. And the quicker we accept that fact, the happier we\u2019re all going to be.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is one to do when you don’t know what to do? How do we choose how and where to put the next foot right when the way forward is unclear? When I write, I usually know where to go. But this time, there’s a topic lurking just under the surface. So I canoodle around on the keyboard and hope it will decide to join me. Like so many of my writer friends, our current state of affairs has taken creative skills on something resembling Mr. Toad\u2019s wild ride. Sometimes we focus and the words come spilling out. Sometimes they even come out in the right order. Life\u2019s uncertainty can create space for good things to happen as easily as it can drain us of purpose and focus \u2014 except when it doesn\u2019t. [bctt tweet=”I canoodle around on the keyboard and hope it decides to join me.” username=”AndreaPatten”] I don\u2019t know what else to do with an unruly topic: it won\u2019t go away and leave me alone but it remains elusive, flat out refusing to become clear. In a way, it reminds me of a pan of water on the stove, just before it starts to boil. There’s a bubble here, and another one over there. And, while their activity level looks a bit leisurely, those bubbles are part of a much bigger picture. They are part of building energy, an energy that will not only heat water but will change part of it from liquid to gas. Steam. And a change in form is a type of magic, is it not? The stage magician enlists our willingness to be fooled as the \u2018nothing\u2019 behind an ear suddenly produces coins. We don\u2019t know how it happens. Alchemy. Magic. A change in form. While it looks simple, it\u2019s a really big, complex change. Just like boiling water. When you stop and think about it, there\u2019s a lot of alchemic activity swirling around us. The first one that comes to mind is that thing with breath: humans using oxygen which changes to carbon dioxide for trees that then return it to us in its original, usable form. Our airy waste feeds the trees while theirs becomes the source of life for so many air-breathing beings wandering the planet. It\u2019s another matter-changing bit of magic. [bctt tweet=”There\u2019s a lot of alchemic activity swirling around us.” username=”AndreaPatten”] Nature provides other examples: snow melts, ponds freeze, and at certain times of year something\u2019s probably hatching almost anywhere we choose to look. Of course the most familiar example of form-changing experiences is the transition from caterpillar to moth or butterfly. And while it\u2019s a metaphor that\u2019s been done to death there\u2019s a good reason: it\u2019s an example that give us solid toeholds for learning. Think about it… you\u2019re this little wormy bug thing, wandering around, munching on plants. Some of your friends and neighbors get picked off by weather or birds or well-intended gardeners who don\u2019t know any better. But you\u2019re still there… moving from plant to plant, having your fill. Did you know some species of caterpillar eat as much as 27,000 times their body weight during this part of the life cycle? But, as often happens, I digress. Somehow, those little critters enter the dark place, are turned into a type of goo and are born again \u2014 this time in a more beautiful form. And in this new form, the creature feeds on completely different parts of the plant than it did in it\u2019s last life. Sometimes when I watch the butterflies visiting various garden plants I wonder if they remember the food preferences their caterpillar-selves enjoyed? What carries forward from their previous life? What falls by the wayside? They have nothing to say (and little to do) about this. Caterpillars that survive long enough to face metamorphosis become moths. Or butterflies. Puddles freeze and dandelions go to seed. Water on a hot burner will boil. Perhaps they don\u2019t know it\u2019s coming. It\u2019s just what happens. They don\u2019t struggle with acceptance. [bctt tweet=”They don\u2019t need to have faith and I doubt they fear the unknown.” username=”AndreaPatten”] So what do you do when you don\u2019t know what to do? Hopefully, not much. I plan to try to learn to do less. To stand in place and take the next obviously correct action. Like caterpillars, dandelions, and hot water \u2014 the change is gonna come. No amount of \u00a0hand-wringing or pot-stirring is going to make that any different. And the quicker we accept that fact, the happier we\u2019re all going to be.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-14083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happiness","category-thinking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14083"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=14083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}