HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFEby Maria PopovaDon’t try to washyour tired handsclean from the bloodshedof your private wars.Just unclench the fistthat has come to feel like homeand let the story slipbetween your trembling fingersinto the river of time,silver and indifferent.You may have to kneelfor days or decadesin a pool of silenceblue and lonely as a heronbut it will be there,the small green stonelying at the bottomlustrous with a peace larger than joy.When you rise,kiss the tombstoneof your pastand step barefootinto the garden of the future,the garden of infinitely forking pathsin which any flower can be yours, any one at all.donating = lovingFor seventeen years, I have been spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars each month composing The Marginalian (which bore the outgrown name Brain Pickings for its first fifteen years). It has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, no assistant — a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor makes your own life more livable in any way, please consider lending a helping hand with a donation. Your support makes all the difference.newsletterThe Marginalian has a free weekly newsletter. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week’s most inspiring reading. Here’s what to expect. Like? Sign up.