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The Advice Column You Didn’t Know You Needed
An unexpected source of soulful wisdom
We all need a couple extra voices of sanity and calm in our lives right now. Thanks to my brother-in-law, I’ve found one in my new favorite advice column, The Red Hand Files, by the musician Nick Cave:
The broody artist (best known for being front man of the band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) offers sage advice and poetic, responding to all matter of questions. “How do I know I’m on the right path?” asks one writer. Cave responds:
Look around you. If there are others all moving in the same direction… chances are you are on the wrong path.
If you turn and veer onto a different path… Keep moving, because though this path may not be the easiest path, or even the best path, it will be the most interesting, the most instructive, even the most enlightened path. It is your path, where you get to be who you want to be, say what you want to say, and love what you want to love — your path — and you can take much comfort from that, because you may be the one who shudders, you may be the one who spins and glows, you may be the one who shines, you may even be the one who bursts into flames, but even still, there you are and all along you go — your path, your path.

