Finding what is lost by doing good.
The Lost Sunglasses That Led Me Somewhere Else
In a cupboard I almost never open—wedged between forgotten kitchen gadgets and old linens—I found salvation.
Not just the missing gardening scissors.
Not just the packets of Carnation and Nasturtium seeds I’d been hunting for weeks.
But there too, resting beside them like a patient friend, were my favorite sunglasses.
The very ones I’d spent two hours tearing the house apart to find.
I had searched everywhere with growing desperation: my office bag, my biking pack, the bookshelves, bedroom drawers. I turned the house upside down. Eventually, exhausted and defeated, I sat down convinced they were gone for good—those perfect summer sunnies I couldn’t imagine the season without.
That’s when I looked out the window.
When Searching Becomes the Problem
My backyard was quietly asking for attention.
The veggie patch lay empty and forlorn.
The rose and jasmine bushes had grown wild, their branches tangled in rebellion after weeks of neglect.
I had meant to tend them—but I couldn’t find my gardening scissors.
Or the Carnation and Nasturtium seeds I’d bought with such optimism.
At that moment, something shifted.
I made a simple decision:
Stop looking for what I wanted.
Start looking for what was needed.
Let me at least find those flowering seeds, I thought.
Fill the empty patch. Give these plants the water they’ve been asking for.
I stood, walked to that forgotten cupboard—and everything was there, waiting.
A Lesson from the Garden About Purpose and Action
This moment brought to mind Paulo Coelho’s line from The Alchemist:
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
Santiago learns that when we pursue our Personal Legend, the world bends to meet us. The Soul of the World responds to our deepest desires.
But my morning taught me something quieter—and perhaps more useful.
The universe didn’t respond to my wanting.
It responded to my reorientation.
When I stopped obsessing over my frustration and turned toward caring for something beyond myself, the path cleared.
Karma, Detachment, and the Results We Chase
The Bhagavad Gita says it with remarkable precision:
“Karmany evadhikaras te ma phalesu kadacana”
You have a right to perform your duty, but not to the fruits of your actions.
For two hours, I had been fixated on the fruit—finding my sunglasses.
It was only when I returned to my karma—the simple act of tending life in my garden—that everything I’d been seeking revealed itself.
Of course, the first thing I did after finding them was head straight outside—watering the plants, refilling the birdbath.
Not because I deserved it.
Not because I’d earned it by searching harder.
But because I’d finally aligned myself with something larger than my own small want.
What Are You Really Looking For Right Now?
I keep thinking about those Carnation and Nasturtium seeds.
How they were there all along—waiting to become something beautiful.
How close I came to never finding them because I was too busy searching for something else.
Maybe you’re looking for something today too.
A missed opportunity.
A lost connection.
Clarity about which direction to take.
An answer that keeps slipping just out of reach.
What if you stopped looking for your sunglasses—and started looking for your seeds instead?
Why Tending Often Works Better Than Searching
What if the thing you need most isn’t found through searching—but through tending?
Through showing up for something that needs you, rather than chasing something you need.
The garden is still teaching me.
I am waiting for the Carnations to bloom, their petals unfurling in soft shades of pink and white and for the Nasturtiums to sprawl across the empty patch, bright orange faces turned toward the sun.
And yes—I will be wearing my sunglasses while I water them.
But I hold them more lightly now.
Where Answers Are Often Found
Because I know where to look when things go missing.
Not in the places I’ve already searched.
But in the cupboard I open when I stop searching altogether.
When I turn my attention to:
• what needs doing
• what needs tending
• what needs care
That’s where everything is waiting.
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