I changed a lot this year. It didn’t seem so on the outside. In fact, it actually looked like I was at a standstill compared to all
of the profound changes in my belief system and self-image that have been going on for the last several years. I think I needed the slower year to let the rest
of me catch up with everything that had been happening inside my soul. I’ve put together a list of things that I have come to this year through books I’ve
read, thoughts I’ve explored, interpersonal conflicts I’ve endured, and from people I’ve met, befriended, loved, or lost. This list is the fruit of a journey… 6 years’
worth of journey really, although it wasn’t until this year that life slowed down enough for me to reflect on where it had brought be. Though some things might seem quaint or obvious
or even cliché, each of these thoughts represents something that has been a fundamental change in my understanding of things either beginning this year, or
for the first time settling into something expressible this year. I encourage anyone who’s interested to go ahead and read my thoughts, reflect, laugh at the
silliness of some, agree with some, disagree with some, get offended at some, ignore some, and perhaps even grow from some. I hope that someday, when an older
version of me who has changed yet again reads some of these and laughs at the naïve, young person he once was, he might find some thought he’d forgotten ever having
that resonates with him anew. If so, I hope he can claim it as his own and breathe his years into it, align it with his new thoughts, and give it new life.
Things I Learned this Year
1. People make mistakes. That’s the wonderful thing about them. 2. Life is like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup: There’s no one right way to go about it. 3. Strip away the rhetoric and the sensationalism and it’s hard to tell politicians apart. 4. The more certain you are you’re right, the more likely it is you’re wrong. 5. What you meant and what you said don’t make you any less accountable for what was heard. 6. It’s easy to demonize people you disagree with. It’s much harder to listen to them. 7. Doing the right thing is easy. As long as you don’t know you’re doing it. 8. Never let anyone tell you what to do. Especially yourself. 9. Sometimes the worst examples make the best teachers. 10. Sitting still is easy. Meditating is hard. 11. “You’re not ready for what I have to say” is really just a nice way of telling someone you think
you’re better than them. 12. Broken hearts actually do hurt. 13. The goal of evolution is not progress. 14. When we grow our heroes follow us. 15. Being comfortable enough in your faith to say “I don’t know” does not make you an agnostic. 16. The busier you are, the easier it is to make time for the things that are truly valuable. 17. Sometimes tolerance can become a dogma of its own… 18. The more you talk about something the less you understand it. 19. Your problems seem pretty silly when you start thinking in geologic time. 20. A perfect world would be an ecological disaster. 21. The best way to solve a problem is not seeing it as a problem. 22. Revolution is just another word for changing the prison guards. 23. Even the most flawless visions for the future can be sullied when people try to claim the
moral high ground. 24. Ritual is more fun with friends. 25. If you doubt your value or feel cut off from nature just remember that you are an ecosystem. 26. If you stare closely at anything for long enough, you can see the face of God in its
pattern. 27. Politicians are no more the problem than they are the solution. They’re just a distraction. 28. No god ever dies. But new gods as old as time are born in every moment. 29. Beware of anyone who offers you advice, especially if you agree with it. 30. Without integrity, virtue is a trap. 31. That which is not sustainable will not be sustained. 32. Contradiction is ok. 33. It’s easy to get so caught up on the suffering and injustice in the world you cease to function. It’s
just as easy to distance yourself from it entirely. It's much harder to acknowledge it, say a prayer, and
then devote your energies to the things you actually have the power to change. 34. That which is truly new, innovative and revolutionary often seems ancient, primitive, and simplistic. 35. Children are wiser, smarter, more sophisticated, and more capable than people give them credit for.
The last thing they need is us telling them what to do. 36. We say so many unbearably stupid things every day. There’s nothing quite like opening an old journal and
finding some profound wisdom we recorded and forgot about to remind us to stop hating on ourselves. 37. When you begin to read the tear stains, rips, scribblings and scuffs in a book more often than the
words it has become an object of worship. 38. No matter how hard you try, you can’t please everyone. 39. Our stories are myths, and we are all bards. 40. It is strange that no one ever talks about trying to cure or treat normality. 41. Stereotypes and generalizations always create and reinforce hierarchies. 42. Gender is a spectrum. 43. When people start talking about the collapse of civilization with a sense of
longing, you know there’s a problem. 44. When you put it into practice, loving your enemies does not make you popular. 45. True love can look into the darkest heart and see nothing but the light of God. 46. Those who are truly tolerant are not tolerant because they believe it will make them better
than those who are intolerant. They are tolerant because they know they are not. 47. Very few people can slow themselves down enough to hear the voices of trees and rocks. Most people miss
out on some very good conversations. 48. The energy that allows us to feel a kiss is the same energy that powers the stars and streaks
across the sky during thunderstorms. 49. The Otherworld is not a higher plane of existence; all things exist on both sides of the veil. We are
Otherworldly beings as certainly as we are energetic and material beings. 50. Learning something and living it are two very different things. | 
