Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair.
Equally true in the science of physics and emotions alike: Correlation is not causation. The sun doesn’t make the rooster crow, nor does an insult wound me or make me feel bad. Perhaps conditioned, but never caused. Not ever in all of time or space. Not once.
The thing that I’ve been trying to hold onto … it is already gone. All that remains is an echo, a memory. Deal with it. Stop denying it. Stop trying to change or control the future. Accept.
On the child inside:
- The child in me wants affirmation. To hear that I’m good. That I’m appreciated. That I matter to someone. That I’m loved. That is what separates children from men.
- A child needs to feel loved to feel whole. Reason tells me it is unnecessary. People throughout the world live full and satisfying lives without it. Yet I’ve constructed a life with love as the foundation and I struggle to build a house of reason and temperance a top it.
- “I know this feels hard, but I see you. I hear you. I get you. I’m here for you. I love you today. I’ll love you tomorrow. We’ve got this, together”
- To that kid that is crying inside: it’ll pass. I know that doesn’t help right now. It is of no consolation. Still, it will pass. Sadness has evolved to encourage attachment and to force reflection. Learn from this. Evolve. Grow. History will repeat itself, it doesn’t need your help.
On work:
- Work hard, but choose good work first.
- Are you stepping on people? Over them? Then it is not good work.
- Good work emboldens and unburdens ourselves and others. Good work increases freedom, it doesn’t limit or stifle it.
- Good work needn’t lift people up, it need only diminish some of the weight holding them down.Emotional maturity is emotional wisdom. Acknowledge what they are. Recognize what they aren’t. Embrace them all, but only hold them briefly, and let them go. They are mere subconscious heuristics: often helpful but never necessarily right.