how much structure do you need?

I think I finally have a working answer to the question I’ve been asking myself for a long time.

how much structure do you need?

… in a day, a life, a relationship, in the pursuit of personal growth, in the devoted study of an art form, in learning a new language, in deciding where to travel to next, in building a house, a family, a body of work… in creating (and recreating) anything in life, including, well, yourself.

do you need a ten-item checklist, broken down into tasks and subtasks? do you need a bootcamp, where someone shouts at you exactly what to do next? do you need to go to graduate school, and collect the necessary paperwork, diplomas, connections, before you can pass GO? do you need a mentor to give up thumbs up or thumbs down, advice from further down the road? do you need a personal list of rules? regulations? benchmarks? milestones?

or do you do away with all plans together, and float like tumbleweed through a day, a month, a life? do you feel out what to do, with those well-tuned tentacle feelers you’ve cultivated over ten years of intuitive healing work?

here is the answer that occurred to me recently:

you only need enough structure to allow yourself to let go.

let go as in — to be your fullest, uninhibited, innermost self — with a sense of ease, curiosity, aliveness, sensitivity, awake-ness to life, and attunement to your deepest self.

to let go of all “shoulds” and pressures, both inner and external, and to simply allow yourself to be an open vessel, an open channel for that energy of life, of creativity, to flow through you.

to let go of all accumulated scars, all social conditioning, all self-flagellation, and all self-medication. to let go of anything that does not serve you — or your creativity, which wants to live through you.

clearly, I’m thinking about this question in terms of making art / making my life’s work. “enough” structure, for me, is about building indestructible daily rhythms and practices, allowing my unshakable discipline to be my greatest advocate for spontaneity, for letting go, and allowing deeper energy to surface.

however, this answer applies to so much more. it applies to love. it applies to life. it applies to any area of growth. if letting go can allow us to be our true selves — which brings not merely fulfillment, but our fullest potential, and the greatest feeling of aliveness — then, ultimately, is that not what we should aspire towards?

is the sole purpose of structure not simply to allow our true selves to come forth, and lead the way?