Month: March 2023

The unbelievably beautiful future or perhaps the catastrophe coming, the regret and pain of the past. How often do we spend wishing we would have acted differently? A mistake made, a witty counter to an argument we wish we would have said in the moment, wishing we would have. We could have, we would have, we should have. 

How often do we spend in agony thinking of the pain yet to come? The school speech, the work presentation, trial, Monday morning on a Sunday night. In a declassified interrogation manual, the CIA found that a person is more likely to talk with the fear of pain, rather than the inflecting of pain. Know why? Imagination. 

We are extremely creative, us humans, often to our own detriment. In our minds we can imagine the worst of torture chambers, true catastrophic demise that neither happened in the past or will happen in the future. How often do we do the thing we are afraid of and say “that wasn’t so bad!” How often do we think we want a cheeseburger, nicotine, more money, and the reality wasn’t as good/bad as we imagined? 

Stay in the now, the past wasn’t as good/bad as we think it was, the future won’t be as great/awful as we think it will be. Nothing is forever, you will be ok. Until tomorrow, smile in the arena of life today.

If you want to feel better, be kind to someone else. This Smile in the Arena stuff is not bullshit. Spreading kindness, through at least a smile to others, drops a pebble and the ripples spread and spread. The ripples change the world.

I received this letter from my mother. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop. The letter calls me “dear one” and goes on to show how spreading kindness is so significant to others, no matter how small we “think” it is. My mother, as usual, backs her stance with not just her opinion but through the Journal of Experimental Psychology and a professor at the University of Texas, Austin.

Great work mom, I agree with all of my heart what we try to do. But, enough writing about it, let’s go live it! See you out there in the arena mom, I know I will meet you there, with both of us smiling.