3 quotes for Dec 25

I am taking a five-day break. No email, no WhatsApp, no Insta etc. Just some walking around, some reading, and hanging out with friends.

Hope you get to take some time off during this week and recharge yourself. Merry Christmas and happy holidays and all that!

There is no enjoying the possession of anything valuable unless one has someone to share it with.

-- Seneca

Just... so true! And deep.

Video games, for example (I know, deep!). One of the most enjoyable times I've had is when my buddy came over in the middle of the night as we happened to lock ourselves out of our house - and we ended up chilling and playing for a while.

While some things are fun to do alone, doing things and sharing experiences trumps all.

We are constantly consuming our thoughts. Cows, goats, and buffalo chew their food, swallow it, then regurgitate and rechew it multiple times. We may not be cows or buffalo, but we ruminate just the same on our thoughts - unfortunately, primarily negative thoughts. We eat them, and then we bring them up to chew again and again, like a cow chewing its cud.

-- Thich Nhat Hanh

Yeah, that's me. The past year, I've become a bit more aware of this and tried to work on it. It is interesting and frustrating. But I think I've made tiny forward progress with this.

This is not just about overthinking, which I do. This is about constant buzzing in the head, repetitive thoughts that just never seem to go away. What a waste of time!

I had the opportunity to connect with a couple of my students who are extremely knowledgeable in these affairs and they were able to point me in a couple of directions.

I stumble along. I've caught myself making progress. It is slow. It is work. But it feels good. Most times.

To do harm is to do yourself harm. To do an injustice is to do yourself an injustice - it degrades you.

-- Marcus Aurelius

Even being a dick to someone falls here, I think. The few times I've been an ass to someone coz they did something terrible, I still feel awful about what I did or the way I went about it.

Even things like cheating in sport, even where it doesn't matter, it just makes it seem off to me. I don't mind when others do but I don't like to do it. I've done it when I was younger - cheating - and it didn't give me anything positive.

Thanks for reading. And do share your feedback or some awesome quotes.