Go Within or Go Without

When I was younger, I used to live near Venice Beach. I'd often notice the murals spray painted on the sides of small shops around Venice by this graffiti artist named Chase. One day, I noticed a mural with the words, “Go within or go without.” The simplicity of the sentence struck me.

We are always looking outside ourselves, but we’ll never find the answer “out there,” nor will we find happiness, forgiveness, validation, love, or peace out there. For all these desired states, we must start by going inward, and only then will the world reflect these states back to us.

In my 20's, I felt adventurous, emotional, bereft, searching, uncertain and felt like a spiritual black sheep in L.A. To truth of that statement hit me in the heart while surrounded by superficiality. I couldn’t fully understand its weight or its levity, but I knew it was the key to the door I was trying to step through.

We all have different tools that take us back within—yoga, music, mediation, journaling, laying on the beach, hiking, being in nature, back-packing, camping, tarot cards, dowsing, a good book, cleaning up your house, dancing in the shower—whatever it is, pick several and do them like your life depends on it—because it does.

Soul-Prompt: How can I carve out time for myself to go within? What's “out there” that I can't access “in here”?