No, I have never found The place where I could say This is my proper ground, Here I shall stay; Nor met that special one Who has an instant claim On everything I own Down to my name; To find such seems to prove You want no choice in where To build, or whom to love; You ask them to bear You off irrevocably, So that it’s not your fault Should the town turn dreary, The girl a dolt. Yet, having missed them, you’re Bound, none the less, to act As if what you settled for Mashed you, in fact; And wiser to keep away From thinking you still might trace Uncalled-for to this day Your person, your place. — Philip Larkin, “Places, Loved Ones” Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Life
The Same as Everyone Else’s
Recognize that your struggle and your suffering is the same as everyone else’s, I think that’s the beginning of a responsible life. Otherwise, we are in a continual savage battle with each other with no possible solution, political, social, or spiritual. — Leonard Cohen Read more →
Transform Your Life!
People often ask me what is the most effective technique for transforming their life. It is a little embarrassing that after years and years of research and experimentation, I have to say that the best answer is— just be a little kinder. — Aldous Huxley Read more →
Having perfected our disguise, we spend our lives searching for someone we don’t fool. — Robert Brault
You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good. — Jerry West
Make voyages. Attempt them. There’s nothing else. — Tennessee Williams
The 5 Strengths
The 5 strengths are: strong determination, familiarization, the positive seed, reproach, and aspiration. How you conduct yourself is important. When you are dying practice the 5 strengths. Read more →
Positive Psychology
Discuss: There is no such thing as virtue. No such thing as a good life. No such thing as happiness. No such thing as a future. The future is merely determined by the past. Read more →
A New Purpose in Life
I’m taking an online course on Finding Purpose and Meaning in Life . . . when my son was growing up, I felt like my purpose in life was to be a good father and to take care of my family. After the boy grew up and moved out on his own, I struggled for many years to find a reason for being alive anymore. I thought maybe raising the boy was my destiny and I had fulfilled it. Now I’m happy to say that with a lot of guidance, I’ve figured out my new purpose in life, a new way to help and serve people: taking out the trash. Read more →
Our Town
On this date — Feb. 4, 1938 — the Thornton Wilder play Our Town opened on Broadway . . . Emily: Oh, Mama, look at me one minute as though you really saw me. Mama, fourteen years have gone by. I’m dead. You’re a grandmother, Mama! Wally’s dead, too. His appendix burst on a camping trip to North Conway. We felt just terrible about it — don’t you remember? But, just for a moment now we’re all together. Mama, just for a moment we’re happy. Let’s really look at one another! … I can’t. I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another. I didn’t realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed. Take me back — up the hill — to my grave. But first: Wait! One more look. Good-bye, Good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover’s Corners….Mama and Papa. Good-bye… Read more →
Epitaph
He loved, was not loved, and his life ended in disaster. Let’s leave it at that. Read more →
Life is Beautiful, Living is Pain
Hopes rise and dreams flicker and die. Love plans for tomorrow and loneliness thinks of yesterday. Life is beautiful and living is pain. The sound of music floats down a dark street. Hunter S. Thompson Read more →
What Comfort Can You Give Him?
When you get a person to look at the sun as it bakes down on the daily carnage taking place on earth, the ridiculous accidents, the utter fragility of life, the powerlessness of those he thought most powerful — what comfort can you give him from a psychotherapeutic point of view? — Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death Read more →
Two Great Fears
We now know that the human animal is characterized by two great fears that other animals are protected from: the fear of life and the fear of death. — Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death Read more →
Internal Dialogue While Driving to Work
This car is a mess. I’ve been meaning to get it washed for weeks and I never do. What is wrong with me? I’m just drifting aimlessly through life. (It starts to rain.) I am a genius. Read more →
The People I Feel Sorry For
According to 2016 and 2017 data from HHS.gov, 11.4 million people misused prescription opioids. That doesn’t include 886,000 people using heroin, which is not available via prescription. The people I feel bad for are the ones who are not addicted to opioids. There’s so much anxiety and loneliness in life. How do you get through it without a little help? Read more →
Overheard
“The grass is not always greener.” “No, but it’s not always not greener either.” Read more →
Be Thankful That You’re Miserable
I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That’s the two categories. The horrible are like, I don’t know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don’t know how they get through life. It’s amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you’re miserable, because that’s very lucky, to be miserable. — Alvy Singer Read more →
A Prescription for Peace of Mind
If I don’t believe that I’m the prime cause of my life being the way it is, I’m doomed to a joyless existence in the victim position. Any prescription for peace of mind has got to include owning your own shit. Read more →