Thank you! I'm so happy that you enjoyed the post!
I agree, knowledge and application are two different things, but knowing that, we are very well equipped to use life to gain wisdom...in the moment. First, maybe we just need to set aside the notion of "destination," and just make that destination the "now." It's a thought...
And along that same thought, if I have no perfected destination to compare the moment to, it seems that I can feel a deeper turn of gratitude. ...Maybe even be so bold in that moment as to think that if validation is the remedy as well as part of the cause of anxiety (requiring more validation), then giving plentiful and honest validation to others can unwind the knot at the root of my own anxiety.
Anyway...I have this theory that validation and gratitude are intertwined, intimately, up and down, and that anxiety can't exist in an environment of unconditional gratitude. The theory continues along the lines that there is nothing wrong with us. And so we can make our gardens as big as we want them to be - by investing in each present moment. There has to be something to that, because anxiety is the only thing I can see standing in the way. Maybe giving validation is letting go of energy, and one needs to only know the underlying intention to manage where one needs to be more liberal and where one needs to be more conservative. If this is happening in the present moment, then that moment is a pretty important moment after all.
Just some morning thoughts...