Siddhartha

 I asked myself, “What is the best use of my time?” A perennial question for which I was hoping to find an answer when I opened Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha.

I flipped through the book’s pages and landed on a page with the following short passage:

The Yogaveda will teach me no longer, nor the Atharvaveda, nor the ascetics, nor any other teaching. I will learn from myself, be my own student. I will learn about myself, about the mystery of Siddhartha.

This was the guidance that I had been seeking all along. I will learn from myself, be my own teacher, be my own student. I will learn about myself, about the mystery of Mostafa.

I realized that I had been spending a disproportionate amount of my time learning from others. Reading their books. Watching their videos. Listening to their podcasts.

And not enough time reading my own writings, observing my own thoughts and emotions, and listening to my own inner voice.

It was as if that inner voice – that Mostafa – had drowned beneath all the words coming from the outside world.

The only way to listen to and learn from Mostafa is to give him the time and space to express himself.

Give him time to:

• Meditate in the morning so you can observe his thoughts
• Write his stories so you can understand what is going on in his life
• Sit in nature and be one with it so you can find peace
• Commune with the source of creation so you can find meaning
• Experience life as he was meant to so you can find joy

Let Mostafa guide Mostafa.

Let him listen to his own thoughts, feelings, and insights. Let him learn from them. Let them become wisdom.