The Art of Staying Open
There is a difference between being open and being available to everything.
I learned that late.
For years, I thought openness meant saying yes.
Listening longer.
Giving another chance.
Keeping the door unlocked.
Now I think it means something else.
A window can be open without inviting the whole street inside.
The older I get, the more I notice small things.
A woman reading alone in a café.
A song I have not heard in years.
The way evening light settles on old buildings.
A conversation that stays with me long after it ends.
None of these things change a life.
Yet somehow they do.
Attention Changes Everything
Perhaps staying open has less to do with people than we think.
Perhaps it begins with attention.
With noticing.
With allowing the world to remain interesting.
Not every experience has to become a lesson.
Not every encounter has to become a story.
Some things are complete in the moment they happen.
The right song at the wrong time.
The wrong song at the right time.
A place that suddenly feels different than it did before.
That’s all it takes sometimes.
I have spent enough years trying to understand everything.
These days, I am more interested in seeing.
There is a quiet freedom in that.
The freedom to notice.
To appreciate.
To let something be beautiful without needing it to mean more.
The world has not become simpler.
But it continues to surprise me.
And that feels worth paying attention to.
Bettina Gosch
Rooted in Depth. Radiating Light.
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