Try not to try

I met with Prof. Bill Dogterom today for my first time. It was really good. How does he know to ask the questions he does? I felt like I was about to cry about 5 times. Basically he said I need to learn stillness and stop being so anxious...

This is much easier prescribed than carried out. He said I need to trust God with my spiritual life. This will be hard.

He described this analogy of stillness in the spiritual life:

In the quiet time we spend with God it's like being in a clearing with a deer or a squirrel and we're offering out our hand with an offering, but we have to stay still and keep our hand open if we want our offering to be received. It can't be taken if we show anxiety or close our fist.