Returning....with Quote 22 of 52

I am coming back to 52 Figs, having been gone a long time now. In large part, my focus and energy has simply been elsewhere; though elsewhere is, ironically, directly related to 52 Figs after all. Most of my free time, energy, thought and focus has been consumed with horseback riding, a fig that seemed quite simple (almost easy) when I added it to my list over ago.

The past 10 months have shown me that I was wrong to think I could go galloping across an open field after a few lessons on top of a horse. I have been surprised, even amazed, by the whole process of learning to ride a horse. It's much like learning to speak a language, just when you think you can carry on a conversation or speak with some level of fluency, you realize you haven't a clue how to say something as simple as: where is the restroom?

I will write a complete update about the fig of horse riding at another point. It requires and deserves much more time than I have at the moment. But for now, I am back after a necessary rest, and I am looking again at my list of figs and thinking about which ones are calling to me next. I have learned, through this experience, that the figs can't be plucked too early. They ripen on their own, so to speak. So, when I'm ready and when they're ready, we come together at some middle ground and get to work.

This morning, I have begun to review the list and think again, beyond horses, of what comes next. I was thinking this morning of a Buddhist quote I heard somewhere, someday, along the way, and it seems apropos to this moment.

What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.

Buddha

Happy Thursday and Happy 2012.

Photo above is the Buddha at Leshan.