I’m fully aware of the irony of downplaying how complicated emotions can be ITT, but after all my years depressed or whatever mixture of things I am, I think the simpler concepts have done me the most good overall really.
I came across these 5 words a couple years ago, and it struck me as the exact advice I needed for a long time.
Think of the old cliché about “the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master.” This, like many clichés, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth.
Thanks for the added context and providing a link for folks! It’s a decent commencement speech overall and I appreciate the attention he draws to the importance (and difficulty) of perspective in it. If anyone understood the “great and terrible truth” of the adage, it would be him.
I’m fully aware of the irony of downplaying how complicated emotions can be ITT, but after all my years depressed or whatever mixture of things I am, I think the simpler concepts have done me the most good overall really.
I came across these 5 words a couple years ago, and it struck me as the exact advice I needed for a long time.
Don’t believe everything you think.
“The mind is an excellent servant, but a terrible master.” David Foster Wallace
Web searched it, and the quote from his speech “This is water” is actually
Edit: The speech was a good read
Thanks for the added context and providing a link for folks! It’s a decent commencement speech overall and I appreciate the attention he draws to the importance (and difficulty) of perspective in it. If anyone understood the “great and terrible truth” of the adage, it would be him.
Yes! Our brains when left unchecked can be a torment nexus - stating grounded in reality (not your thoughts!) is crucial