“We think by feeling but what is there to know?”

Roethke’s poem, “The Waking” from which this line is taken, was the first writing to reassure me I was not alone. Someone else had lived in difficulties and come to the conclusion I had—you can’t outthink life, or bend it to your liking. What you are left to work with are feelings, feelings about what is right for you and what to do about it.

It’s kind of a bumbling way to go through life, but it’s the only way I’ve found to get anywhere I want to live, or to be the person I can live with when I get there; though it means I seldom know where I’m going. 

One of the blessings of this way of thinking however, of giving up a bit of attempted control, is that it opens your life to unexpected kindness. Here is some unexpected kindness from two others below…

You can find the whole of Roethke’s poem (all of which is amazing) online here: The Waking by Theodore Roethke | Poetry Foundation