You Don’t Have to Think

By Steve Taylor

You don’t have to think.
You don’t need to anticipate before you act
and provide a running commentary while you’re acting
then replay your actions afterward
at the same time as watching and critizing
the actions of others.

You don’t have to argue with yourself
about events that dissolved away decades ago
or resurrect ancient humiliations
that can still inflame you with hurt and hatred.
You don’t have to weave imaginary worlds
where you can satistfy your secret desires.

You don’t have to watch helplessly from the side
while your mind whirls away
creating unnecessary discord
and wasting precious energy.

You don’t have to think
except when thought is necessary
when you need to bring your conscious mind to bear
to deliberate, analyze, or organize
or to let your imagination drift
allowing ideas and insights to emerge
from the undercurrents of your consciousness.

Thought should be a tool
we can pick up when needed, then lay down again,
leaving us undisturbed.

Otherwise there is no need for thought
to disturb the natural stillness of your mind
to dilute the purity of experience
to distort reality through interpretation
to confuse the present with the past
and interfere with the impulses that gently flow
from the silent part of you, which knows
better than you think you do.

– Steve Taylor
From The Calm Center: Reflections and
Meditations for Spiritual Awakening
New World Library, 2015
p. 44

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Become the Sky
• The Smile
• “Window, Mind, Thought, Air and Love”
• Stepping Out of Time and Resting Your Mind/a>
• In the Stillness and Silence of This Present Moment
• Returning the Mind to God
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Cultivating Stillness
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to the Living Light
• The Source Is Within You
• A Sacred Pause
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Mystical Participation
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Until the Light Returns
• What the Wind Says
• Secret Language of the Heart
• Kahlil Gibran on Self-Knowledge

Image: At Pelican Lake, Glenwood, MN – Saturday, August 15, 2026. (Photo by Mackenzie Timmerman)

Become the Sky

By Steve Taylor

This cage you’ve been trapped inside
for longer than you can remember
might seem so sturdy and secure
that you don’t even dream of escaping anymore
like a bird that used to beat its wings
but now just lets them hang limply by its sides.

But the bars of your cage aren’t solid.
They’re a mirage made up of fears and desires
projected by your restless mind
fueled by the attention you give them.

Just for a moment let your mind be quiet
and see how fears evaporate
see how desires withdraw
like the claws of an animal
that’s no longer threatened.

Watch the bars melt away
and let the world immerse you.

Let your mind-space merge with the space out there
until there is only space without distinction –
stretch your wings and become the sky.

– Steve Taylor
From The Calm Center: Reflections and
Meditations for Spiritual Awakening
New World Library, 2015
p. 12

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Smile
• “Window, Mind, Thought, Air and Love”
• Until the Light Returns
• What the Wind Says
• Secret Language of the Heart
• Kahlil Gibran on Self-Knowledge
• Jesus and the Art of Letting Go
• Surrendering in Sacred Trust
• I Surrender to You
• The Act of Surrender
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Love’s the Only Dance
• Sweet Surrender
• Saved Me
• Learning to Fly
• “And Still We Rise!” – Part 1 | Part 2

Image: Artist unknown.

The Smile

By Steve Taylor

At the moment of brutal disappointment
when you realize that your hopes were illusions
and you’re ashamed of your gallibility
and angry with the world for stringing you along
for letting this foolish game go on so long
and your future seems bleak and stark
without those filters of delusion
and you survey the wreckage of your life
wondering if you were ever who you thought you were –

Maybe you can sense a part of you
that’s not a part of this
that’s standing outside this psychic storm
untouched by this chaos
peering through the rubble and the clouds of dust
looking on and smiling –
knowing that this damage is only superficial,
just to your facade, not to your foundation.
and that when the debris is cleared away
there will be more space inside
for your essence to shine through.

– Steve Taylor
From The Calm Center: Reflections and
Meditations for Spiritual Awakening
New World Library, 2015
p. 39

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Love Will Not Lose
• Until the Light Returns
• What the Wind Says
• Secret Language of the Heart
• Kahlil Gibran on Self-Knowledge
• When Sorrow Comes
• The Empty Beach
• Walking Away
• The Real Question
• My Love, “Return to the Root of the Root of Your Own Soul”
• A Light That Will Always Shine
• Aligning With the Living Light
• A Sacred Pause
• Mystical Participation
• Shining On

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.