If everyone only ever followed their passion, no one would clean up after dinner.
Tag: relationships
Long Enough
I’ve lived long enough to know that it’s possible to crush someone’s spirit into non-existence. To break someone down so they can’t take another step. Miraculous healing is possible, but it often empowers those who’ve done the crushing to keep doing it indefinitely. Consequences level the field and are, perhaps, the best and most honest…
Less Energy
It takes less energy to actually care than it does to pretend that you do.
Kind of the Same
Some flavors—like apple and banana and cilantro—pervade and overpower anything and everything they’re mixed with. Other flavors are more subtle but just as delicious. It’s kind of the same with people.
Stupid Stuff
Don’t do stupid stuff. Own and apologize for the stupid stuff you’ve done. Don’t use the stupid stuff you’ve already done to justify doing more stupid stuff. Don’t use the stupid stuff that others have done to justify doing more stupid stuff. Don’t judge others by the stupid stuff they’ve done, because you’ve done equally…
Notice
Notice how the older people in your life tend to go silent as they age. Not because they have nothing to say. But because they no longer live simply to be heard.
Model for Life
I’ve tried out a few models for life in my 57 years. Some dictated by tradition, some by religion, some by the preferences and opinions of stronger personalities in my life who I looked up to or feared as the case may be. I’m still trying new things, but one model I’ve rejected is charting…
Enough
We often rail against the seemingly unreasonable expectations of others when really it’s our own expectations that are crushing us. The best gift we can give ourselves is to release our expectations as to what is going to happen in the next five minutes, much less the next five years—expectations of what others are going…
Must Begin
Love must begin with respect. Two people cannot move forward merely tolerating each other’s differences and looking down on each other as ignorant idiots who can’t see past the noses on your faces. No relationship can survive that. Neither can a country. There must be mutual respect for the genuine value that others bring to…
Most Dangerous Person
The person who flatters you and tells you what a fantastic job you’re doing is possibly the most dangerous person in your life.
Who You Really Are
The best test of who you really are is your internal response when something bad happens to someone you dislike or disagree with.
It’s Enough
Mother’s Day posts are often a litany of the expectations mothers try and fail to live up to every day. Most mothers I know don’t set out to be heroes—I know mine didn’t (but she was one anyway). Most of us simply set out to survive. Two of my babies are mothers now. They’re deep…
Fragmentary Life 