10/01/25

            When life strikes its minute hand just before a new hour, you hear it tick. When subtle changes occur in your life that feel meaningful, you sense the gentle hand of life guiding you forward. You feel fortune like a path lighting up beneath your feet.

            Spending all your time repairing broken fences, mastering an art form, and learning to be present is enough of a catalyst to facilitate this kind of divine transformation; you ensure that you pass through the target gates and walk past the metal bars of your own understanding so you can witness something new.

            And sometimes, what is new can feel unfamiliar. It’s the dangerous, scary corner in your home, untouched and shadowed. When you shine your flashlight on it, you see clearly that it’s just something new and untried until now. Making a positive change is like bringing a Ficus home and learning how to care for it, researching its needs, and incorporating those needs into your daily routine. It’s a small adjustment to your twenty-four-hour schedule that repeats every day.

            If you want to avoid getting lost reading a clock, count the minutes.

Begin to move forward slowly, softly, and gently.

            Start to run your finger across the hand of time and focus on the present moment.

            Sometimes a vision requires unyielding bravery. Sometimes a plan that seems impossible is exactly the plan that will succeed. Sometimes, all you have to do is trust your heart—and your eyes when you see the result.

            What remains now is your Zen garden.

            To master.

            To cherish.

Make sure to visit each plant in your garden and greet them. The world speaks to you when you speak to it, and decide you love this game—you have a lot of love to give, starting with yourself and then to your community. When you realize love is a verb, the most important one in the English language, you can see the change on the horizon welcoming you like a morning sun.

Love is a glue.

Let it piece your weary mind and body together.

Let it help you dream.

Yours, in thought and practice,

Nicole Asbjorn