The Three-Day Rhythm (Part 1)

A few weeks ago, I dreamt that I received a very specific sentence I had to share with others:

“If you look at today, the next day and the day thereafter, ask yourself: What did I do?”

It felt less like advice and more like an invitation to consciousness. I would like to sit with this and maybe break it down into smaller parts. In Part 1, I will sit with: “If…”

The word “If” is small, but it carries the whole weight of possibility. It holds within it both the freedom to choose and the awareness that every choice has consequence. If is the point before something begins, a seed of potential, still undecided, waiting for us to act.

There’s an openness in if: if we study, if we show up, if we listen deeply, something unfolds. But there’s also a warning in it: if we turn away, if we numb ourselves, if we sleep through our days, life moves on without us.

If stands at the doorway between what is and what could be. It reminds us that our days are not accidental; they are shaped by the quiet decisions we make, moment by moment. It is a word that calls us to responsibility, but gently, without accusation, as if to say: You can, if you choose.

Perhaps that’s why the dream began with if: it is a word that begins change, awakening, “looking.”

Mariet Terblanche