endurance

https://flic.kr/p/ndVWNN

'Suffering isn't always the mark of a life going badly. If the well-lived life involves quite a lot of distress, maybe we need to get brave and strong to live it.'

John Armstrong, 2013, Life lessons from Nietzsche, Macmillan, London.

Life Lessons from Nietzsche

https://flic.kr/p/94HWSD

'In essence, what Nietzsche is saying is this: the things we long to do and accomplish - the kind of person we might hope to become - are in fact within reach. But the path to each of those goals has this difficulty to it: it is a path that involves suffering, annoyance with oneself, disappointment, envy and frustration. He is saying that it is always through such pains that good things emerge. They do not occur as matters of spontaneous luck. Looking on from the outside at what we admire (a successful person) we see the effect. But we do not usually also get the chance to closely observe the evolutionary history. We don't see the nights of anguish, the fears, the insecurity. Such insight, however, is strangely heartening. It helps us to see that suffering is not a sign of failing to be the best version of oneself, but a necessary part of the process of becoming who we want to - and should - be.'

p. 18
John Armstrong, 2013, Life lessons from Nietzsche, Macmillan, London.

Alain de Botton's 'list for life'

kid to do list, list, Be happy and go home, a photo by Carissa GoodNCrazy on Flickr.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life/the-10-commandments-for-atheists-20130205-2dw83.html#ixzz2LrPWqQgS

1. Resilience: Keeping going even when things are looking dark.
2. Empathy: The capacity to connect imaginatively with the sufferings and unique experiences of another person.
3. Patience: We should grow calmer and more forgiving by being more realistic about how things actually happen.
4. Sacrifice: We won't ever manage to raise a family, love someone else or save the planet if we don't keep up with the art of sacrifice.
5. Politeness: Politeness is closely linked to tolerance, -the capacity to live alongside people whom one will never agree with, but at the same time, cannot avoid.
6. Humour: Like anger, humour springs from disappointment, but it is disappointment optimally channelled.
7. Self-awareness: To know oneself is to try not to blame others for one's troubles and moods; to have a sense of what's going on inside oneself, and what actually belongs to the world.
8. Forgiveness: It's recognising that living with others is not possible without excusing errors.
9. Hope: Pessimism is not necessarily deep, nor optimism shallow.
10. Confidence: Confidence is not arrogance - rather, it is based on a constant awareness of how short life is and how little we will ultimately lose from risking everything.