Are You Using What You Already Know?

It is easy to always be
in acquisition mode.
We love that next shiny bauble.
Take an online class
and watch all the videos
but never do any of it?
Bask in a brilliant flash
of fresh inspiration
without realizing it is
not an end in itself?
What would be the
exponential blessings of you
putting that into practice?

Great intentions without action,
resolutions without fruition
are all too common.
Why have a car if the
rubber never kisses the road?
We want a new thing
but are you using
the one you already have?

That huge and stately
sycamore tree
is highly successful
and is using all of
what very little it knows:
to suck up water and sun,
to transpire, be patient,
and acquiesce.

It can be important
to try something new,
but the point is doing it.
I’m all for discovery.
I don’t only want to have
the same old recipes, no matter
how wonderful they are.
However, I don’t just
read new recipes
to change it up,
but actually
prepare and cook them,
assembling and tasting them,
to see if they can be added
to the ever-expanding arsenal
of tried and true favorites.

Spiritually, many just
read and collect
grand ideas
without the necessary
struggle and wisdom
to purposely apply them.
Artistically, many just
buy materials
and take lessons,
without the joyous spirit
of play and discovery,
and the mucking about essential
for great personal art to emerge.

Maybe armchair travel a bit,
but then actually go somewhere,
even if it is not as far
as your wildest dreams,
and only a new hike
in the next county over.

Doing more
is way more potent
than knowing more
or obtaining more.

The information age tells us
that we can know it all
and tempts us
to scroll a little longer,
do a little more research,
to keep us addicted
to our screen,
when we need to just launch out
and attempt that great idea,
endeavor to create
that unlikely masterpiece,
strive to imbibe and project
that new consciousness.

Devote yourself to
accomplishing that
worthy goal.
We invariably think
we need to know more.
Maybe that’s not always
an avoidance mechanism,
but often it is.

We need to be more
like a toddler learning to walk,
unstable on their untried feet
and often tumbling down
only to get up to do it again,
until suddenly,
they are off and running.
How much did they know
in advance about it?
Like that sycamore,
they simply took action
based on innate prompting.
I think we need to
trust that more–
to fearlessly undertake
what is progressive– to grow
and adventurously implement
the previous concepts
we already have stockpiled,
before we gather
even one more
new one.

by Polly Castor
February 22, 2026