First Gear, and Time Picked Up Speed

We shifted into first gear and time picked up a little speed. We are going without looking back. But I noticed something again: happiness does not suit some people.

Not everyone has the right to be happy, in truth. There really is a decree that comes from above. However hard you work, struggle and fight, there is a fate that clings to your collar and will not let go.

It does not yield to tactics such as thinking positively and staying away from negative people. Affirmation, positive thinking, these are matters of character. If it does not come from within, doing it by force is only self deception. Do not listen to those who preach it. It does not work. Nothing forced from outside your nature ever benefits you. Exercise included.

So everything is in the mind. Then again one must look to one's essence. Find it, see it, know it, listen to it. Do what it asks. Not the things you believe to be right. What is right is sometimes simply what comes from within you, because it comes from within you.

Now you will say this man has become a slave to his appetites and preaches the same to us. I will not be angry with those who think it, for they are creatures who can only think it. From that angle they may even be right.

But let those who seek the secret of life lend an ear. If you want to be happy, write down the things you believe to be right and the things you want, that is, the things that come from within. Then look at the two lists.

The balance you strike between those two lists will determine your happiness. But for that you must first see your inside clearly.

And if unhappiness is written into your fate, do not force it too hard. Look back over your life; if there is always a wrong choice, always a struggle, always a problem, then let it be, do not force it.

To such friends I would recommend sharing a joke with life. There is no point opening the umbrella; it will not open. There is nothing to be done. We will bow to our fate.

In such times one should simply choose solitude. You must not make anyone a partner to your unhappiness. We must not make anyone unhappy as we are.

Sometimes decisions that look like enormous problems in the moment are the most important decisions for your future. Cutting off a foot is a terrible thing, but if the foot is gangrenous it is necessary in order to live.

That is how it is. Life is hard, friends. One must be careful.