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In Passing — Being lost is a clear place to stand

You are in the middle of a decision and cannot move forward. Every option feels incomplete. Nothing settles.

Or you are in a conversation, and something shifts. You can feel it. The ground is no longer steady, and you do not know how to respond.

Or a path you have been on stops making sense. What felt clear last week no longer holds.

In those moments, there is a tendency to search quickly. For the right answer. For the next step. For something to restore direction.

Yet something else is already present. You are lost. That experience is clear. What complicates it is the refusal to accept it.

Clarity is often tied to answers. A plan. A sense of control. Direction. Certainty.

Clarity can also be this: knowing exactly where you stand, even when direction has not formed.

Standing in not knowing, with certainty, is a form of confidence that is rarely named.

When we move too quickly to regain direction, we step away from that clarity. We replace what is real with what feels manageable.

Staying requires something else. The ability to remain without filling the space.

What does it mean to trust yourself there?

One thing worth carrying: Being lost is a clear place to stand.

The next note arrives Tuesday. See you then.

— Judithe

Notes written while a book is becoming. No more than 500 words.

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