Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first thing close in,
the step
you don’t want to take…
Do I have a first step I don’t want to take? …
What would it be, this step I don’t want to take?
— Jillian Horton, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing. Poem by David Whyte: “Start Close In”
Image: Carolina Pimenta, Arts Center, Riberia Grande, Portugal (via Unsplash)
Live & Learn 
What would it be, pal?
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Hmmmmmmm…..
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the first step is always the most excruciatingly the hardest. without taking it though, we are frozen where we are standing.
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Truth Beth!
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My hunch is you already know, pal, and you’ve been circling it for many, many mornings….
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Hmmm….
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That first step can be scary, can even leave your defenses down and open to illness (don’t I know it) BUT it must still be taken…
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Oh, and what an excruciating step it is.
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That is so true. I dunno why the one I took was so hard – causing me (even more) sleepless nights and an opening for the dreaded C to make its way in…
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well, well, well….. as somebody who USED to skip the first step I really don’t know what to say. If you look at it the way this post suggests, one probably never wants to take it, that first step – so maybe best not to overthink and just DO it?! Good luck with it….
fantastic pairing – I love stairs’ pics, took a bunch in a medieval village we visited over the weekend. Worn out steps, polished down to half the hight and easy, dead easy to climb, but how many million steps were taken to give them this wonderful patina and feel?
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Such a wonderful visual. How many steps to create that patina. Love that.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Excellent ‘daily’ question!! — Jillian Horton, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing. Poem by David Whyte: “Start Close In”.
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When I opened your page the way it displayed was photo only. Of course I immediately, thought of a book & a movie, from the past:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/333703/nancy-drew-02-the-hidden-staircase-by-carolyn-keene/
Nancy Drew (mysteries) book #2 The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene
and
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059221/
Don Knotts classic: The Ghost and Mr Chicken (I have to watch this at once a year) ///
Then I read the words…there have been times when I physically would skip the first stair and every other stair (sure helped me as I ran track) -it was so much faster to traverses the long staircase to our 2nd floor. Sometimes I’d go down the stairs by sliding on my behind… I know that Jillian Horton was burnt-out, emotionally & assume she was quoting David Whyte…Taking the First Step, Mentally is the way to start re-visiting your concerning pain…there are no short cuts…it is hard, draining working through pain and exhaustion…taking that First Step Leads a person to recognition, hopefully, acceptance & at times forgiveness – of past reality…a person needs to move forward to grow…
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Nancy Drew. Don Knotts. Oh the memories.
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oh Christie, now I feel I’d like to read the children’s book…. I love mystery books!
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Hmmmm
I Wonder what Hmmm means?
Is life too short to procrastinate? 🤔
M
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Laughing. Good!
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Aahhaa! Isn’t it the thing we think about and think about, talk about, know that we should take, and create all sorts of reasons to avoid it or suppress it. It’s a great example of how powerful our fearful ego mind can be. I like the photo too!
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That ego. Giant!
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The words first made me remember your encounter with the otters…your extra steps seemed to frighten them away (or was that just my twist?) Very interesting…all of this. I was intensely interested in Nancy Drew,and would read her under the blanket with a flashlight. Now, David Whyte held my intense interest–anyone read or listen to what he said about Jane Austen, and Robert Louis Stevenson? Absolutely fascinating. And how wonderful that Jill Horton took the step to learn and allow meditation to heal. Thank you David…
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Wow, a lot to digest here Valerie. Thanks for sharing. Dave
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