We are not in control. Most men don’t understand this. Reason? No credible person sat them down when they were boys and spelled it out.
Knowing I’m not in control, I am a stranger to disappointment and bitterness. I am not what happens; I am to whom it happens.
The responsible man is response-able. He responds to Life. He does not react. Re-action is the forte of the fool. We cannot step into the same river twice.
Disappointment, resentment, frustration—these are personal failings. They originate with me; I sustain them. I am responsible for me. If I am hurt, I hurt myself. If I am helped, I help myself.
As the word suggests, environmental cleanup begins with the mind.
Mind is polluted if it is irritable, impatient, dissatisfied or wet-nursing a grudge.
Funnily enough, some of our worst polluters are fervent recyclers.
An emotional man—fearful, worried, greedy, anxious, ambitious, jealous, competitive, angry, insecure—cannot love.
It is beneath the dignity of a man to bear a grudge against his father. Fathers do the best they can. Of course, in many cases, that’s not much.
Love is the only real intelligence. Sometimes love rings the bell, summons the mind.
We resent those on whom we depend. Those on whom we depend resent being resented. Psychology calls this unfortunate arrangement “co-dependency.”
It’s actually a useful term. People understand it.
