Once or twice in your life you find yourself at the edge of everything you ever believed, felt, or trusted. It’s such a terrifying position to be in. Fear, guilt, and doubt cast a dark shadow on your freedom, and it does seem there’s nothing to do.
Of course, the irony is that you can’t spend too much time in this position without understanding some (or most) of the things that need to be understood. Continue reading
“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” – Epictetus
One of the sad truths of life is that we often think of ourselves as nouns. Finished products. We try, we fail, and it means we’ll never be able to do it.
We get our hearts broken, and we decide we’ll be forever alone. No one will ever love us. We should just buy some cats and dogs…
Ever thought about the fact that you are born useless? A lump of flesh? You can’t even walk, can’t feed yourself. You’d be dead within a few hours, if left out all by yourself. That’s if you’re somehow lucky enough to even survive that long.
Remember how it felt to learn to walk? To talk? Of course not. But you did learn to do those things, and became quite good. Continue reading
“You are afraid to die, and you’re afraid to live. What a way to exist.” – Neale Donald Walsch
Afraid. To live. To die. To get hurt. To hurt others. Afraid. Of failure. Of success. Of getting stuck somewhere in between. Afraid of doing nothing at all, afraid of overdoing it. Afraid of yourself, afraid of others. Rationalizing. Being practical. Over-intellectualizing. Holding back. Waiting for the right time and place.
Finding excuses. Blaming yourself. Blaming others. Telling yourself that you’ve got enough time.
“If only…”
“When I…”
“What if…”
“It could have been…” Continue reading
Do you want everyone to believe in you even though you don’t believe in yourself? Do you want people to support you even though you haven’t done anything to earn that support?
Do you think the world doesn’t notice you for who you are? Do you think the world cares about the way you talk about your dreams and goals? Do you think everyone else doesn’t see you procrastinating instead of being dedicated to your dreams?
Sure, you can whine and moan about it and get some fake sympathy from fake friends who’ll laugh at you behind your back.
But… Continue reading
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
Epictetus tells us that people would visit Socrates and ask to speak to a philosopher, and he’d take them to see other philosophers.
Whenever I set out to learn something new, I am usually reluctant because of what I perceive as a steep learning curve. It is difficult, almost impossible, it’s not worth it, I do not have the time, the patience, or the mental fortitude to learn this. After a while, though, when I figure out that it’s not as difficult as I had presumed, I become arrogant. I think I know it all, I think that there’s not much left to learn.
Most of us think like that in one or more areas of our life. Continue reading
It’s a mountain of a dream and a mile-high climb to the top. And what it took me a long time to discover is that I didn’t like to climb much. I just liked to imagine the summit. – The Subtle Art of not Giving A Fuck
We would all like to be something we’re not. We all wake up on certain days, terrified that we are less than what we all dreamed of becoming when we were kids.
That is okay.
The thing is, we all like to imagine having certain results.
We fantasize about being famous or rich or married to someone hot as hell…
We all like fairytales…
The thing is, that’s superficial.
And my definition of superficial is this: you want something without knowing the full range of pros and cons, without being aware of the circumstances and the consequences.
It’s like this: you’d like to be rich, so you win the lottery.
Now you’ve got to worry about what to do with all that money. What to buy, what to invest in, what to do to not lose it all.
You lose a lot of friends, or you might try to keep them by helping them with some money…
Are you waiting for that time when “everything will fall into place?” When the economy will be better, when your situation will be better, when you’ll have different people around you? Are you wishing for a different kind of relationship, for a different you, for a different body, for a different career?
Are you thinking that there will be some day when you can rest? When there’s going to be comfort, when you’ll feel safe? When you’ll feel nothing but pride?
When all this pain and the stress and this suffering you’re going through will end? Continue reading
