Don’t dream it: be it.

Brilliant self-observations. Beautifully stated. Once we leave this reality, we would give anything to come back to feel even the most intense pain. The joy of life exits in the beauty and fulness of the experience of each and every moment.

Welcome home!

Karl

Your article has helped me realize that I go to great lengths to avoid pain, especially the immediate pain of accepting what my addictions, fixations, and lies have cost me and will cost me if they continue. I would say I wish I could say I was ashamed of the ways these negative habits have hurt others, but I’m not to that point yet, because I’m fearful of accepting that I’ve harmed others.

In general, avoiding awareness, avoiding sharp emotions, has become my way of life. I make the sort of choices someone makes who doesn’t experience life as if were real. The fact is, I DON’T usually experience life as if it were real. For once, I want to be able to feel “present,” if you will…to be able to touch something and accept its existence. I’ve been living in the clouds for such a long time that I barely remember what that’s like. So I’m really intrigued by your belief that “happiness is…[my] innate condition.” If I let myself accept reality, let myself live in it, instead of whatever self-protecting existence I’ve laboriously created in my head, I think I would feel so much joy.

I don’t want to be on my deathbed and realize I forsook the precious experience of “living” in order to avoid pain.

Thank you for your post!