Answers come, like here

A stairwell in Santa Fe, near the Plaza.

One of the recurring themes of this site is that answers come. When we are troubled and we ask in pure desperation, answers come. When we perceive a minor problem and then clearly articulate a question about potential solutions, answers come.

The following may not sound big in the scheme of things, that’s OK. Big and small and extraordinary ordinary are all dealt with here. It’s the example of solutions presenting themselves in answer to clear questions that’s important.

My friend Gil is in the midst of a home purge — the second friend in a week who’s entered into decluttering mode. He moved from New York City to Florida a few years ago — hasn’t everyone? — and found himself choked with blankets and comforters he only needs on rare occasion for guests.

What to do with them? He couldn’t donate them, after all he does need them occasionally. So he asked himself, he asked a couple friends and family members, how do you store extra bedclothes out of the way?

As often happens, the idea came as he was doing something else, something relaxing. The cavernous space beneath his bed. Beneath his guest bed too. He could store them in plastic bags there and pull them out when needed.

We all have answers to questions like these come to us . . . so often we forget the efficacy of asking when we have more plaguing issues.

We forget to ask how to get through a crisis.

We forget to ask how to find love.

We forget to ask how to live more magnanimously.

Gil’s example here is telling. He could have let the blankets stay piled in a corner, in the way, a drag on his consciousness every time he entered that room. By asking — himself and others — about solutions he set his mind in motion.

Here’s what I love best. The answer came and it was simple. Just like the answer that came to me when I didn’t know how we were going to survive the summer when the 2008 crash happened (Your mind ultimately answers every question you ask it).

Not only was it simple, it was within his sphere of possibility. More than this, it was already in his environment. As was my answer. The answered involved a shifting of perception . . .

Big or small, please don’t forget to ask. Your mind, the universal mind, it’s all connected. Answers come.