The baggage in your individual life will weigh down your married life. Do something about it.
A belief in reincarnation would at least give us some slack; we would have many lifetimes to get it right.
After a few years of meditation practice we can even learn how to occasionally ignore ourselves. And what relief that can be!
As strange as it sounds, meditation may reveal that we are happier than we thought we were. We may discover that ancient conditioning rather than present circumstances is causing our dissatisfaction , and that this moment is quite sufficient or even wonderful, and we simply hadn't noticed.
I meditate because evolution gave me a big brain, but it didn't come with an instruction manual. I meditate because life is too short and sitting slows it down. I meditate because life is too long and I need an occasional breakI meditate because it's such a relief to spend time ignoring myselfI meditate because I'm building myself a bigger and better perspective, and occasionally I need to add a new window.
Artists are visited by the Muses, or tormented by their own passions and demons.
One suggestion is to regard your personality as a pet. It follows you around anyway, so give it a name and make friends with it. Keep it on a leash when you need to, and let it run free when you feel that is appropriate. Train it as well as you can, and then accept its idiosyncrasies, but always remember that your pet is not you. Your pet has its own life, and just happens to be in an intimate relationship with you, whoever you may be, hiding there behind your personality.
My activism was, and is, unknown, unannounced, but somehow effective.
It's always unfortunate when something gets misreported and the facts are not clear.
I don't think people ever were free of fear of death, but clinging to life and being so unprepared for it is a modern experience.
My plea is that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. . . I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment and endorse virtue and effort.