If you had a free year with rent covered, what would you do with it? The answer isn’t a plan, but it’s a clue.

STILLNESS

WHAT THIS MEANS

Taking money out of the question lets you hear what you want without the noise of what you can afford. The answer is not a plan, since real life includes rent, but it points at something: a subject, a place, a kind of work. What it points at matters more than whether you could do it next year.

Write your version in two sentences, as specific as you can manage. Then look for the smallest real version available now, a class, a club, a job that touches the edge of it. One Saturday spent there is how a clue gets tested.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

What would you fill a paid-for year with, honestly?

MORE IN SOLITUDE & SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.