I like a plan. I tell my daughter this all the time… “If you have a plan, and the plan changes, then everything is fine – you just adjust and move along. But if you don’t have a plan, and things change – it can really derail you.“
I’ve known people who make plans that are set in stone. It’s impressive to me when people have that kind of resolve, but the people I’m referencing are generally “not good with change” and I’ve seen the ugly side come up when complications arise.
I’ve similarly known people who are ultimately aloof. Nothing is much of a concern, and they take life as it comes, but they aren’t necessarily working towards anything specific, either.
The life I want to live is in the middle.
Having plans & goals moves me forward. The next training session. The next event. The next song I need to write. The next record I need to record. The next tour. All of these things require planning and execution… but all of them have uncertain outcomes. The only thing I can plan is to make an effort. The outcome is not something I can anticipate… just as I can’t anticipate who will be there to witness it.
Therein lies the miracle. The unanticipated outcome. The opportunity to do something extraordinary. To my mind, being married to the outcome is just as dire as never embracing the opportunity. This life has a different pace than that of the aloof person, or the high-strung person, and as much as this life is a hybrid of both, neither of them will really understand how it works. To have a solid plan and be open to all possible outcomes… and all possible outcomes of all possible outcomes.
It’s occurred to me as I write this that an element of being a dreamer or a romantic is crucial to this lifestyle, and in 2025 that’s a difficult thing. People all around us are bogged down with news of international politics instituting muzzle velocity peppered with bullshit clickbait designed to keep us shopping and snacking. It’s truly disheartening to see people dulling their own shimmer by concerning themselves and stressing over things they cannot control.
If I can encourage anyone to do anything… it’s to dial back their content consumption and to go spend some time near trees and/or water and/or mountains for as long as they can, as frequently as they can. That spiritual connection with our environment is crucial to our well-being, and as much as that connection does involve other people, it does not involve arguing with those people in a comment section.
Anyway…
I hope to see you out there, in nature.
In the middle.
Where the miracle is.
The Conscious Pilgrim 