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  • ACCEPT: We are a miraculous, unlikely fragile species in a mysteriously oxygenated

  • corner of the universe. We have never been and never will be complete masters of our

  • circumstances, we remain invariably at the mercy of awesome uncontrollable forces to

  • which we should submit with a measure of grace. – CONCEDE: Our impotence before events,

  • the powerlessness of our mighty brains, the humbling inflicted on us by nature, our vulnerability

  • to the absurdities of microbial life. – LET GO: of ideals of perfection, of uncreased

  • lives and flawless trajectories. We should expectregularlyto be taken wholly

  • by surprise. – NO PERSECUTION: None of it was done with us in mind. We have not been

  • singled out. We may be victims; we were never targets. – LOVE: Our fellow broken humans;

  • hold out a hand to our similarly scared and confused neighbours, build friendships around

  • the always-surprising and blessed discovery of mutual vulnerability. – SERVE: Gain relief

  • from how much richer it is to love than to be loved and how much more gratifying to serve

  • than to be served. Take a holiday from the gruelling search for self-fulfilment in the

  • name of that infinitely easier goal: the reassurance and relief of others. – PESSIMISM: Gain

  • peace of mind not by expecting the best, but by scoping out the very worst and making oneself

  • at peace in its grimmest recesses. Drain terror of its unexamined dimensions. Bore yourself

  • out of fear. – APPRECIATE: especially birdsong, the drawings of the under sevens, pictures

  • of palm trees, lemons and the memories of beaches and hugs. – LAUGH: At the absurdity

  • of the shitshow; insist on defiant humour on the way to the gallows. – SELF-FORGIVENESS:

  • For our inability to be exactly as we would wish and as calm and intelligent as we would

  • hope. It is normal (and almost sane) to be demented most of the time. – SMALL PLEASURES:

  • A day at a time; with a special place for modest pleasures: the sight of flowers, chocolate,

  • hot baths and very dark jokes with unshockable friends. We come from a species that, in only

  • a few hundred thousand years, reached a dazzling understanding of existence, built some stupendous

  • machines and learnt to think of itself as in charge. We may need to accept the need

  • to feel, in the late hours, a little bit scaredand for a time, very very small.

  • If you're interested in trying psychotherapy The School Of Life offers a service via skype around the world. Click on the link for further details.

ACCEPT: We are a miraculous, unlikely fragile species in a mysteriously oxygenated

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