Seek and you shall find

Seek and you shall find. Wise words.

I read them on the back of a book I’m readying lately, although I have to say it’s nothing new to my ears. Of course, I know the Italian version I heard many time in my childhood. Never really got it though.

When I was younger I used to play treasure hunt with my grandma. We would create amazing treasure hunts in her small apartment, where one clue would lead to the other. Sometimes I would create the clues, sometimes my grandma was, and she would repeat this refrain when I would complain that she hid the clues too well. “Seek and you shall find” she said, “Chi cerca trova”. I would get upset and reply “I am looking everywhere, I am seeking, and I still find nothing!” Funny how children get pissed at such tiny things…

Now, a little bit older, I look back and I watch that film in my memory with tenderness. Not only for the great fun I was having with my grandma who is no longer with me, but also because I notice now words of wisdom where back then I saw nothing.

So now life has become my treasure hunt, and I still hear my grandma’s voice: “Chi cerca trova”.

For me this now means first of all that if I want to find something I have to start looking. Obvious? Well, yeah, but not that obvious, given all the people who sit and complain because they don’t find what they’re looking for. Maybe they think that you can win a treasure hunt by sitting and waiting the treasure to come to you.

But it also means that if I don’t know what I am looking for I might just stumble upon it and not even notice it.

And finally, it means that if I really want something it doesn’t matter how long I have to look for it, because if I keep trying I will, eventually find it.

Thanks grandma.