If we can't laugh, we can't afford to smile. Laughing is a great rejuvenator. It dispenses pain and stress and energizes us. Otherwise, pain or stress consume much of our energy. If we can't laugh at pain and stress, we can't afford to spend energy on smiling to cover our distress. Better to identify something funny about our painful or stressful circumstances....
The best things in life we take for granted. Suffering can awaken us to this truth which can lead us to happiness. Suffering is when we desire that which is not available. When we suffer, we can have flash recollections of how relatively fortunate we were before our suffering. Moreover, we can realize that even in our suffering we have much for which to be thankful as our current circumstances could always be worse. This is gratitude. As well, we can take solace in knowing that our suffering will at some point come to an end as all things are constantly subject to change, hopefully for the better. This is optimism. Gratitude and optimism are two of the three pillars of happiness....
Our failed efforts can be very valuable. They are valuable if they teach something about ourselves as that increases our chances of realizing success in the future. If we blame others for our failures, our failures are worthless. ...
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is a 19th century nursery rhyme familiar to most American children. A simple rhyme, yet befuddling without an understanding of relationship and context. Does Mary had a little lamb mean that Mary had a pet lamb; that Mary had a small vagina; that Mary had sex with a lamb; or that Mary ate a little lamb? It's a matter of context and relationship. In the context of Mary's father reading the rhyme, it's clear that Mary had a pet lamb. However, Mary's boyfriend talking with his buddies likely means that Mary had a small vagina. Mary's kinky friends might mean that Mary had sex with a lamb. Mary's dinner partner would mean Mary ate a little lamb. Context and relationship defines meaning....
I've done many a foolish thing and made many poor choices. Yet I have no regrets. If I was to change one thing in the past, there is a good chance the present would not be as it is now. That's too risky a proposition. Best to take life as a package deal....
Some years back I attended a wedding in the English countryside. The bride was pretty and ebullient. I congratulated her and wished her the best of luck; adding that she was wise going with an arranged marriage as those tend to be more successful than "love marriages." She was a bit taken aback, claiming her marriage was a love marriage, not arranged; her parents had nothing to do with her choice of groom. I explained that in times past children married at a young age and didn't know much about choosing a mate. Moreover, as marriages were a merger of families, parents arranged the marriages of their children. Today, however, children are no longer young and living with their parents when they marry; post marriage family get-togethers are mostly on ceremonial occasions; and there are often great socioeconomic differences between parents and children; thus, children arrange their own marriages and pay lip service to their families' input. The bride and groom were both good-looking, graduates of a top university, Jewish, bourgeoisie, in professional jobs at highly acclaimed organizations and had common life goals. That seemed like an arranged marriage on good footing. Had the bride chosen to marry an ugly uneducated elderly drunken bum with no means of support, that would have been a "love marriage." When we make choices based on emotional feelings without practical considerations, it must be out of love. However, emotional states of mind are like the weather, they can change unpredictably. Likewise, emotional love relationships often don't sustain themselves and have a higher failure rate than arranged marriages. My view was that the bride was in love with the particulars of the marriage she had arranged, not with the groom. However, I was proven wrong. It was a love marriage. The marriage lasted less than two years and ended with great acrimony....
"Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles. It takes away today's peace." “Ain’t no need to worry what the night is gonna bring, it will be all over in the morning.” Anita Baker....
“What Do You Care What Other People Think?” If you're concerned about how other people think of you, you are likely hanging out with people who think likewise. How could you care about how those people think of you? It's hilarious if you do; caring about the thinking of people who have little else to do but spend time idly thinking about others and accomplishing nothing. People aren't thinking much about anyone or anything. Caring about how others think of us is a fool's errand. Doing so limits our freedom to be who we are and by not being ourselves we cannot realize our potential; a wasted life. Moreover, caring about how others think about us is a stressful errand which drains our energy and leaves little for us to lead healthy and productive lives....
"There was no reason for the government to kill him...
