I couldn’t find my keys. I checked every pocket. I was wearing two jackets. Maybe an inside pocket? No.

Turns out, my keys were in the pocket of the fleece I was wearing earlier in the day.

No matter how many pockets I checked, I wasn’t going to find my keys in what I was wearing.

There’s a metaphor here. Sometimes the things we need — whether it’s compassion, or patience, or strength, or moxie — sometimes those things aren’t within our reach when we’re wearing the wrong coat (the coat of ego, or selfishness, or resentment, or self-pity). For instance, there’s not a pocket in the coat of anger that has space for curiosity.

It’s worth considering what we’re wearing, and making a wardrobe change when necessary.