A Needle In A Haystack

Wisdom to cherish for a lifetime

Photo by Simon Shim on Unsplash

I remember the first time I heard Burgs speak. It was during a song that was composed by Mt. Wolf and to this day, I still don’t know how I found it.

I had chosen a familiar YouTube playlist while I was doing some DIY at home and never before had it played.

I was a few metres away from my laptop and too busy to turn it off so I gave it more of a chance than I normally would.

After a few seconds, I found myself listening closer. Then I stopped altogether.

Among the wisdom scattered throughout each verse, one line jumped out at me more than most:

“The chance to be part of this happens briefly. The invitation is not to show how inventive and imaginative you are but how much you can notice what you're already part of.”

In a world that celebrates and rewards doing over being and outcomes over processes it’s easy for me to get lost in how much I’m producing and not necessarily how aware I am during each moment of creation.

Why I love Burgs’ words so much is that he invites me to pause, to think about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it, and then to bring more presence into my daily life if it’s lacking.

I know life can sometimes feel like a drag but my after my Nan died last week, I know that when my time comes, this life will feel like it’s gone by in a flash.

So, I often ask myself: where do I want to place my attention and how do I want to move through the world?

Slowing down and appreciating what is around me helps me answer those two questions.

The first is on the small things. Looking after my health, nurturing my relationships, and cultivating more peace in my life. The second is all about being authentic, adventurous, courageous, and vulnerable.

Whenever I forget or get led astray, I often return to Burgs’s words where his reassuring tone encourages me to re-anchor in the present moment. The only moment that truly matters.

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Here’s the full transcript of Mt Wolf - Burgs:

Or if you want to listen along (which I’d highly recommend), click here.

I, I think if I could get you to do one thing
I would say that when you get to the point that you
Really feel, highly motivated, to, just, towards keeping your virtue
Then you'll, you'll discover quite quickly how extraordinary a life was meant to be
Could be

And it's, it's just we get so messy, it's not that we are doing lots of wrong things
Our mind is so messy
We don't keep it simple
And we end up making the life that we are living, so in-ordinarily complicated
Completely unnecessarily, and it's such a shame to end up feeling, in a real muddle
When actually, you ought to be having the time of your lives

It doesn't actually take very much to make the deepest part of us incredibly happy
You know?
Just to be here, just to appreciate
Appreciate being here
To feel that you're alive
To be in touch with your heart
That's it
That's it

It takes mindfulness to come to a human life
And then above that, it takes mindfulness and virtue
To come to a fortunate human life

The chance to be part of this happens briefly
The invitation is not to show how inventive and imaginative you are
But how much you can notice what you're already part of
And appreciate it and share it
And care about those that are around who count for their welfare
While you are looking out for your own, that's it
And then you'll get to the end of it, having had an awesome time
Knowing, that, that is something you'd recommend to others

Ah
You all know
You already know this place inside, where it's alright
You all know that when you let the ego go, it's not this black hole that you jump into
You all know it
Why can't we do it?
And yet the world is creaking under the strain of this in-ordinarily complicated
Mass of humanity and actually you know, it's really simple

When you came here
You came here with a sense of awe and wonder, dying to just see what it's about
You know, it's like, what would it be like?
To be down there?
To be part of it?
And you came here with a sense of wonder
And somehow the wonder of it wasn't enough
And we stopped wondering and started to wonder about ourselves
And in your wondering about yourself
You forgot what you came here for, what you came to be a part of