Pushkar Bharambe

“In order to experience bliss and contentment, we must not only be willing to live in the present—not in the past or looking toward the future—but also to accept that pain is a real possibility, if not a probability.

This is not to say that joy must come with pain, but instead, that pain could arrive in the midst of joy and this fact scares us senseless. We would rather half live than risk encountering unspeakable pain at the core of indescribable delight.

We erroneously believe that being a perpetual emotional flatline is better than experiencing the highs and the lows of living.”
― Florence Witt, Say Yes: Answering the Invitation to Live an Authentic Life

“We think we tell stories, but stories often tell us, tell us to love or hate, to see or be seen. Often, too often, stories saddle us, ride us, whip us onward, tell us what to do, and we do it without questioning. The task of learning to be free requires learning to hear them, to question them, to pause and hear silence, to name them, and then become a story-teller.”
― Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby