I have been reminded this spring, through difficulty, that the way to navigate my life is not by belief. Not by feeling, either, and not by goals. It’s by faith—by which I mean trust, the action of which is exactly that: action. Embodied. Practice.

Practice is the point. It’s knowing with my body, knowing with my behavior.

It’s a promise I make, and a promise kept to me.

I said above that I was reminded, and that’s because I forgot. I forget a lot. Practice contains the seed of itself, though. It’s no more and no less than just doing the thing. Or getting back to doing the thing. No judgment. (Lots of judgment from me, none from the work itself.)

My most important practice this spring is to get to the water, every morning, and walk. That’s it. I have a lot of goals, of course (an hour is the minimum! walking and running combined! learn a new poem while you’re walking! maybe you should pray! make a beach offering!), but I’m trying to let those just float around as optional. Did I get my feet in the sand? Thank goodness.

This is enough.

It’s not an ‘experience,’ and there’s nothing to keep. The opportunity is simply here for me. Again, tomorrow.