One of the things that make self-isolation hard is that I can’t visit my gurus.
My gurus don’t have websites. They don’t tweet excerpts from their books. They don’t have a thousand likes. They’re usually not available anywhere else but in the world.
And they don’t think of themselves as gurus.
My gurus are hidden in plain sight: the Lyft driver who’s read more books than my English professor, the scuba store owner who has a smile so big on his face it almost does fit on it, the electrician who seems more interested in connecting with me on a human-to-human level than fixing my light, the clergywoman seemingly fine with no recognition at all.
They don’t preach. They live.
They’ve unlocked the room we all want to get into. They have the sun inside them. The things they do are not the person they are. The outer world is like a game; it’s less important where they land or what cards they draw. They’re more interested in the action itself and the action that follows.
Impact and empathy – the ability to truly know someone and go deeper into themselves – is the reward.
I love how I can’t seek out my gurus. I just have to live, trust the world, and let them find me.