

“A healthy relationship is when two individuated adults decide to have a relationship and that becomes a third entity. They nurture the relationship and the relationship nurtures them. But they’re not overly dependent or independent: They are interdependent, which means that they take care of the majority of their needs and wants on their own, but when they can’t, they’re not afraid to ask their partner for help.” She pauses to let it all sink in, then concludes, “Only when our love for someone exceeds our need for them do we have a shot at a genuine relationship together.”
― The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book about Relationships
― The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book about Relationships

“Reality exists as it is. The words we use to explain our understanding of it are always pale reflections of the truth we are attempting to convey and of our own understanding of that truth.”
― Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
― Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master

“We just need to feel we know, or we can’t rest. And yet much of life is unknowable and will remain so. Lots”
― Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
― Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
“Some people say doctors should keep their professional lives separate from their personal lives. Whoever says so either never practiced medicine or forgets what it’s like. Doctors don’t live two separate lives. It all comes together, whether we think that’s a good idea or not.”
― One Doctor: Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine
― One Doctor: Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine

“To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability, and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language).”
― 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
― 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
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