Think. Refrain. Steadfast. Fair
2 ears. 1 mouth. You’ve learned to listen now, now learn to talk less. Concise. Brief.
Goodness over greatness.
Storms pop-up. You can’t see them coming and you can’t stop them once they start. They will upend your home and there is nothing you can do about it. The only lesson to be learned is how to rebuild faster and more effectively. You can build with better materials, but the carpenter is limited without new plans from an architect or new ideas from an engineer.
If you find contentment in the externals that you have, you lose desire for such things. If you are without desire for things outside yourself, you are truly free.
Fear. Anxiety. Anger. These are the motives of all animals. What makes you different? Potential. It shouldn’t be too difficult to better a dog.
This too shall pass. Everything does. The preferred and the dispreferred. Don’t hold anything too tightly. Don’t grasp anything so fervently. Even the attainable is ephemeral.
A doctor is telling Val that a staff member is replaceable. I’d ask him if they close the hospital when the staffer is on vacation. When they are sick? If they had an injury that kept them out of work for 6 weeks? No? Strange, isn’t it?
Even if you are surprised, only let it startle you briefly, then regain your bearings and continue to advance in the direction of your values.
Stop talking. No one is really listening anyway.
Happiness is experienced, never achieved.
Happiness is an involuntary verb.
Happiness is the absence of desire.
If desire is a need state, happiness is the momentary absence of need.
Hurting? You wished/hoped for or expected something outside your own control. Or perhaps you yourself failed to deliver on something you should have. Either way, how wise was that?
Not even hatred travels as fast as laughter and good humor.
The past is done. Have you learned from it? Of course you have, now let it go. Today is now.
If you seek serenity, you must find a way to come to terms with your thoughts, not wrestle them.
Don’t seek approval or praise. It is meaningless and fleeting. Did you improve yourself in some manner or fashion? Then that is good enough.
On going the “Once in a lifetime”:
- Funny enough, when I think of once in a lifetime the experiences, the earliest thing that readily comes to mind is this: I remember traveling to Virginia with my grandparents, visiting Arlene/Freeman, and playing with that dog all week long. Ginger?
- I wonder if I’ve ever stumbled into a rare moment by accident, or if they’ve always been purposeful.
- Accomplishments? San Diego. Parenting. Managing. Grandson to my grandfather. None should be surprises.
- I’m wondering if there is one person I’ve ever met, just once, that left an impression … I struggle to think of any, good or bad. Actually … I still occasionally think of the esteem I have for the doctor who helped Christine give birth to Austin. Calm, cool, and confident under pressure. Perfect for a moment, the most important moment for us.
- Right place, right time? The eclipse. So, so lucky.
- Are such moments created, or do they just happen? It likely depends on if the moments is received/witnessed passively or if I’m an active participant. The former can be happened upon, but the latter doesn’t just happen. As Seneca says, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.“