We end up spending our time fighting each other instead of fighting for the things that really matter. We end up focusing on the current thing while something more important shrinks away in background.
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom Perseverance and Art of Living
Think of the whole universe of matter and how small your share. Think about the expanse of time and how brief- almost momentary- the part marked for you. Think of the workings of fate and how infinitesimal your role." ~ Marcus Aurelius Meditations, 5:24
A Good friend is much cheaper than therapy- and ten times as helpful 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting: How to Make Your Life More Enjoyable Day-by-Day, Year-by-Year by Ernie Zelinski
"People report being happier when they are with friends than when they're with a spouse or child,"
according to research cited in a recent cover story in Psychology Today magazine. This indeed, is something to ponder seriously. To repeat, people actually experience greater joy while spending time with their friends than while spending time with their children or their mates. This should give you an idea of the value of friendship.
Ernie Zelinski,101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting
In his work Nicomachean Ethics written in 350 B.C., Greek philosopher Aristotle claimed that happiness is the only thing that human desire for its own sake. People seek riches, not for the sake of being rich, but to be happy. Likewise, individuals desire fame, not for the sake of being famous, but because they believe fame will bring them happiness. According to Aristotle, the highest good for us is happiness, and that is why we desire and seek it.
Its always easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble
Ernie Zelinski | 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting
Think of some of the great difficulties that you have experienced over the years — ones that you invited into your life on some level or another. This applies to financial dilemmas, dysfunctional relationships, speeding tickets, lawsuits, time- wasting arguments, health problems, and family feuds. For good measure, you can add any other predicament that you could have bypassed in some way or form. Wouldn't it have been easier to avoid these situations than trying to get out of them later?
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,”answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
[Javits Wild] When he was in the country, he always asked the people he chanced to meet what "normal life" was like, because he had forgotten. The answers varied, and he gradually came to realize that, even when he was surrounded by other people, he was absolutely alone in the world. He decided to draw up a list of what constituted normal attitudes and behavior, based on what people did rather than on what they said.
