some of my thoughts and notes
“To love without knowing how to love wounds the person we love.”
This is what legendary Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh said about Love in his book How to Love which Maria Popova beautifully summarizes in her article on The Marginalian.
I just read this beautiful article about Ram Dass' thoughts on Love:
When you love, truly love somebody, there is no version of reality in which what is good for them is bad for you, no choice they could possibly make that is right for them and wrong for you, nothing they could give you that could make love more complete.
Almost two months have passed since I saw a mouse in my car. Since I was driving every other day, never kept food in the car and never saw her again, I thought she was gone.
Today I visited my grandfather who lives with my aunt and her husband. Recently, during the pandemic, they got a dog, Gustav.
I think I've reached my previous level of thankfulness again. My energy is strong, I'm excited and I'm confident.
I wasn't really aware of the path that this guy has taken in his life and I must admit that I find it highly interesting. Had I been more disciplined and born in different circumstances I can imagine myself on the same trajectory.
I found particularly interesting what he says at this point about what he does every day:
Today I enjoy working, I'm also a bit stressed thinking about the fact that I'll have to leave tomorrow morning at 6 and drive on a snowy highway with summer tires and then up a steep ramp onto the ferry, and that I'll have to pack absolutely all my stuff before that or I won't see it again before summer.
I find it a bit crazy that you prefer the more “honest” version of my original text that was written by ChatGPT.
It's funny to think back at the music that affected me the most this year. When I came to Norway in spring, it was this song that accompanied my ecstatic joy while driving my car over the highway towards the airfield after passing customs:
I'm sitting on the train back to Tønsberg. Right after we separated and I went back into the train station in Oslo I was walking a tightrope between allowing myself to cry as much as I want but also not triggering a reaction from other people.