The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.

We assemble this chaotic stream of sensations and perceptions to make order and sense of things. But the world is not static or stable, and the structures of belief that help us navigate our world must evolve continually if we are to remain on top of things. No matter how elaborate or perfect your system of belief may seem, it is vulnerable to the

But whether it’s a city of the imagination or a real one, there is a point where order is no longer the solution: it is the problem. Unless some degree of chaos is permitted to enter the system, no further progress can be made. Sometimes, to create new structures, the old ones must be destroyed so the blocks can be recombined in different ways.

If you can learn to be flexible in your own mind about which of those endings happens, if you can avoid becoming too attached to any one of them, and keep them all in play in your mind, it becomes easier to start poking, start exploring, and pushing the boundaries of that bubble to see what’s possible. If you’re open to any of those possible

The change can succeed, of course, or the change can fail. But there’s also often an in-between kind of ending. You made some progress, but you didn’t get everything you wanted. Or the situation changed, and it got better in a different way than you intended. Progress, but not perfection. That’s what happens with change efforts, one of those three

It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission, but you probably don’t need either one.

Detaching yourself from your personal objectives helps you keep the bigger picture in mind. You can’t always have things your way. People need to believe that you have good intentions, and that you are looking out for the good of the whole, not just yourself. If people understand that, they are more likely to trust you and to cut you some slack.

I’m so glad you found this book. I’m even happier that you read this far. It tells me that you want to change things: yourself, your life, and maybe the world. I don’t think it’s possible, by the way, to change the world without changing yourself.

And all this started just because he changed his clothes.