Subtraction

Lately I’ve noticed something quietly significant happening in my thinking.

The mind doesn’t evolve by accumulation forever.

At a certain point, growth looks more like subtraction.

Old assumptions fall away.

Obligations that once felt necessary reveal themselves as habits.

Interests that no longer sharpen the spirit quietly step aside.

I’m stepping back into a few long-standing passions, not to relive who I was, but because they still tell the truth about who I am. Everything else, the noise, the excess, the well-intentioned distractions, has run its course.

There is relief in learning what no longer needs your attention.

There is clarity in choosing fewer things, and choosing them well.

Experience doesn’t make you broader; it makes you more exact.

Twain might say wisdom is simply knowing which doors deserve to remain open, and having the good manners to close the rest.