The most important thing I've ever learned

That no one can give you what you think you’re missing.

That no one can take away what you don’t want.

That effort is satisfying only when you stop expecting to get something from it.

That there’s no such thing as lasting satisfaction.

That if the mind is agitated it will perceive objects of agitation and if the mind is peaceful it will perceive objects of peace.

That there’s no world outside of the mind.

That there’s more than one way to do something.

That there’s usually only a couple really good ways to do something.

That anything can be an addiction, and there’s no such thing as sobriety.

That getting what you want will never stop the want.

That we’re all programmed to seek the familiar over the harmonious.

That it takes hard work to reach past what we’re used to in order to find what’s good.

That doing hard work provides the energy it requires.

That it’s possible to try hard and relax at the same time.

That knowledge doesn’t change behavior.

That ritualized and repetitive experience does.

That it’s brave to care.

That the only place to hide is in plain sight.

That the word profound isn’t itself profound.

That in outer space there’s no such thing as up and down.

That other people are the hardest part, and also the best part.

That the greatest impulse is to turn to someone nearby and say isn’t this beautiful.

That telling someone who they are and what they’re good at creates meaning for them in profoundly lasting ways.

That your mood directly affects the people around you.

That recognizing your mood during interactions with other people is a God-like feat.

That believing in unreasonable and illogical things is critical to survival.

That symbols are objects and waking is dreaming and to know an eyeball is to know a hurricane is to know a galaxy.

That admitting you don’t know is the highest form of worship.

That love is the sheltered dawn of everything you don’t know.

That there’s never anywhere else to be.

That there’s no solid place at which you can arrive and say I’ve made it.

That it’s worth it to suffer.

That transforming suffering into art shows other people that it’s worth it to suffer.

That the meaning of life is that it ends.