The input will always be there as long as you keep going. There will always be enough to come in through the windows; the key is deciding to draw the blinds at the right times. Who you are moving forward depends on what you let in and what you keep.

If I am a river, I am three: stagnant, overflowing, and dammed. The third is preferred to the second, and the second to the third.

There is so much out there, welcome it in, this is the start. Drink from ocean, fall into a sky, hold up the weight of the world. The beginning is to grab for it, invite it in. To start, you just have to do something, anything. Like a sculptor, you first have to get some clay, before you can start to shave and cut and refine down.

Next is to discern. You have got enough to start getting rid of extra. Act as a sieve. Let water and anything else that is abundant and not the finest, let it pass through. Retain only the best, and place it in the miner’s pocket. You are the miner’s pocket, where he adds his gold.

Most make the mistake of never even stepping into the river. They stay safe and secure, but stagnant and dry, on the shore. The next few, who are still better off, thrash about in the water. They grow strong from swimming every which way, even against the current. They learn a great deal from their experience. But they are directionless. The best among us learn to move with the waves, traveling far and wide with the water’s natural power at their backs.