I’m not gonna sit here and tell you what to do…

Or how to do it.

You’re too goddamn brilliant for that.

I’m not gonna hold your hand preciously and spoon-feed you 10 easy steps on how to be happy forever or 11 relationship red flags that are secretly ruining your latest love affair.

Because you know better than that. Because you’re wildly wiser than that.

I’m not gonna sit here and simplify everything down to a sweet condensed, convenient formula that’s easy to swallow.

Because that’s too easy.

Because life isn’t like that.

Life is a poem woven by soul, stitched by heart and sung boldly through the vocal chords of spirit.

Life is messy—a dripping oil painting in the making.

The last thing we need is more advice-column, mumbo-jumbo, dime-a-dozen crap to lean on, psychoanalyzing ourselves till we’re blue in the face.

Because poetry, because truth, because life, because this breath, this moment—

Doesn’t need to make so much freakin’ sense to our minds.

Because poetry, because truth, because life, because this breath, this moment—

It can take you exactly where you don’t want to go—exactly where you need to go.

It can wake up the sleeping dragon parts inside and jolt you awake like a thousand buzzing espresso beans flying into your veins at the same time—making you shake, making you feel, making you roar wildly, just as you’re meant to.

So no, I’m not gonna hand you a sweet little list of tips and tricks.

I dare you…

To sit in the gritty mud and sh*t and pain you’ve been avoiding.

I dare you…

To cry those tears.

I dare you…

To find your own way.

I dare you…

To be splinteringly honest with yourself—and others. To say the words you’ve been dying to say.

I dare you…

To let truth set you completely on fire, so you can bloom brilliantly.

You are not a robot—you do not require endless sheets of instructions.

You are spirit. You are heart. You are soul.

No one has answers for you.

Only you have them—and hell, maybe they’re questions, after all.

So stop the search; there is no such thing as a how-to cheat sheet.

Life isn’t neatly arranged into a bulleted list of well-organized points. And neither are we.

Leap outside the lines, rip the goddamn rules to shreds, and color way outside what’s expected with the dripping wax crayons of your buzzing neon curiosity.

Set yourself free, by your own two hands, whatever that means to you—

Cry a river of tears. Stand up and speak. Sing. Dance. Reach out to other hearts. Feel the fear or anger you think will kill you. Sit inside the hot, fiery mouth of transformation itself. Take a chance. Leap. Taste the cherry-blossom flowing sweetness of joy. Bite into love like a ripe plum.

But really—

Only you know what you need.

So, what do you need?

That’s the question that can spark a thousand delicious journeys.

We’re constantly bombarded with loud, incessant voices telling us what we want, who we are, what we need.

Let’s tune into ourselves instead.

We forget that we already know.

We forget that we are our own teachers, our own perfect guides.

Let us own the ancient power inside of us, the power of nature itself.

We forget that we already know.

Let the wild words of your soul, the fresh scent of evergreens, the pure poetry of your being, the nectar truth of heaven itself, the absolute terror of walking around as a spiritual being trapped in a physical body soak into you.

Reminding you—

That life is infinitely more delicious, that you are infinitely more delicious

More of a messy stardust masterpiece

Than any sweet little compartmentalized advice article could ever capture.

There is no such thing as a how-to. Not really. Not at all. Not to our hearts. Not to our souls.

Dive deeper. Walk further. Be bolder. See past the tired billboards of bullsh*t.

Let spirit speak to you.

In a breeze.

In a breath.

In a moment.

In messy, frantic lines of truth-soaked poetry.

Listen.

Only you know what you need—

What you seek. What you thirst for. What you’re ready to learn. What you passionately desire with every quivering fiber of your body.

Only you know what can heal you. What can set you free. What can empower you. What’s healthy for you. What can bring you closer to tasting your hungriest hopes and wildest dreams.

So, what do you need?

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Author: Sarah Harvey

Image: Flickr/ M Yashna

Editors: Yoli Ramazzina; Nicole Cameron