All art is imitation to some extent. We are inspired by the works of others, by nature itself, or by countless other things that may draw our attention and enamor us with their example. There is no such thing as complete originality, for no matter what we do we draw upon that which has shaped […]
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Contentment – Happiness in an Unhappy World
We all know what contentment means–or at least we think we do. It is such a simple concept. To be content is to be happy with what one has, to look upon his or her life and feel no envy, no bitterness, but simply a calm acceptance of what is and an elation of all […]
Readings From Seneca – Part 1 – The Futility of Running Away
You cannot run away from yourself . . . For several years of his life, Seneca (c. 4 BC – AD 64) was the guiding hand of the Roman Empire. His timeless writings, which are well portrayed in Letters from a Stoic, were derived mainly from Stoic principles, which had been developed centuries earlier in […]
When You Wake Up In The Morning, Remember This . . .
Remember that this moment is all that you have. That your future is yet to come, and your past is finished. It is only now, this very instant, that is yours to shape to your will–or to let others shape it to theirs. All of your dreams, all of your goals, everything you desire, it […]
It Doesn’t Always Have To Be All Or Nothing
We do all we can, we do the best we can, but some days we wake up and we’re behind, and things are not on time, and it feels as though our routines and plans are coming undone. Do not despair. Instead, do what you can, get done what you can, and keep going. Even […]
The First Fall of Snow
“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?” J. B. Priestley Today the first snow fell, and as […]
Arnold Bennett on Time and Living a Meaningful Life
There is nothing more valuable than time. All other things spring from it, and all things shall bend to it, even the stars. Yet in this day and age we worry about money and other tangibles and neglect our greatest possession of all, which is our time. And like an hourglass, each second, each moment, […]
On Perception
“Things have no hold on the soul. They standing unmoving, outside it. Disturbances come only from within–from our own perceptions . . . The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.” The words of Marcus Aurelius always touch me, and these in particular. I find that life is chaos when we let […]
When We Fail
Failure happens. It happened then, it happened now–I am not surprised. I saw it coming, even, in the way I thought, in how I ended up so twisted into a cycle of unraveling perceptions, all false, all poison. It is not that I failed that is what disturbs me, but the mechanism–how easy it was. […]
Adversity
It is difficult. I understand. We all face trials, we all face things that break us either in part or in full. It is a human thing, to face extraordinary challenges, for our pursuits, by nature of their higher purpose, also bring with them higher risk and greater potential for reward or calamity. It’s an […]