Relationship with self

“That was all a man needed: hope. It was a lack of hope that discouraged a man.” — Charles Bukowski, “Factotum”

As I said, to put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So we do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors. WE STRIVE TO BE OURSELVES.

But don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean that we can’t BE firemen, bankers, or doctors— but that we must make the goal conform to the individual,

“Every criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expression of anger is the tragic expression of an unmet need.” by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg

In French, “cultiver son jardin intérieur” means to tend to your internal garden—to take care of your mind.

Schmerz ist Bindung. Wer jeden schmerzhaften Zustand ablehnt, ist bindungsunfähig. Intensive Bindungen, die schmerzen könnten, werden heute gemieden. Alles spielt sich ab in einer palliativen Komfortzone. In seinem Buch »Lob der Liebe« weist Alain Badiou auf den Werbespruch eines Dating-Portals hin: »Es ist ganz leicht, verliebt zu sein, ohne zu

the self is no longer a subject but a project . The self is something to be optimised, to be maximised, to be made efficient, cultivated for its capacity for productive output. The worry is that all life activities become viewed as lines on a résumé. Knowingly or otherwise, we risk being constantly governed by the question How is what I’m doing