Did you also know that the heart
expands in love?
Kiss by little kiss it swells,
and consumes the object of its affection.
Somewhat silly, colossally foolish,
but very real – all of it.

I know all this.
Been there done that and all that, you know.
So please excuse my lack of respect
for drama queens who cannot tell
love from general horniness
and grief from their constipated ass.

“I live on the high road, sir. On the high road.”

Or give us patience to suffer these fools.

Give me your trust.
“I have trust issues,” I protested.
Give me your trust.
“I’ll tread carefully,” he promised.
Give me your trust.
His child-smile ate up my life lessons.

Give me your heart.
“I don’t have one,” I protested.
Give me your heart.
“I see you, I want you,” he was insistent.
Give me your heart.
“I’m a collector of hearts,” he said.

Give me your understanding.
“Ask for my love, not my understanding,” I begged.
Give me your understanding.
“My understanding is reserved only for strangers,” I said.
Give me your understanding.
You have it. Now give me yours.

But life isn’t meant to be lived inside a bubble. You walk into what could possibly be pain, accept the experience and live with the consequences. It’s your choice, another name for freedom.

As you wake from sleep, you cry for the comfort of darkness that you were in just minutes before. This uncertainty and shakiness of wakefulness is what is peddled as liberation; if you feel cheated, take heart, better men than you have been lured by its siren call. Comfort lies only in slumber. To get to the other side for another kind of comfort, you must cross the barrier of pain.

Read the newspaper and your make-believe security blanket will lose a thin layer every day. Which is this place that you are living in? Hell?

Someone once said, “The ugly in people disgusts me,” to which I loftily responded from my high horse, “Nothing is ugly.” But I stand corrected. Ugly is very real. Ugly is ugly indeed, there is nothing beautiful or redeeming about it.

“Everyone does it. So I am not wrong. Don’t judge me.” (You will be judged, live with it. When you choose to do what they all do, you will also be judged as they are.)

“What about me? What about ME?” (me me me me me me me me me. You are just one miserable me in a universe of virus-me’s.)

Do what your me wants. Just remember that there are two types of consequence to every single thing that you choose to do: consequence to yourself, and consequence to others. If you know that a particular action will result in positive consequences to yourself, but negative consequences to others, would you still do it? Would you make the decision based on who these other people are or would it not matter?

What you do is who you are. So what would you do?

Picture yourself facing this person and visualize what you want, what you are not getting, how your life is getting affected etc. all because of this person.

Now try this.

In the mental image where you face the person, step away from yourself, slowly move over to their side, turn around and take a look at what they see. Let yourself see their life and where you fit in, through their eyes. Look deeply at their story.

If you are a visual person, you will most likely develop great clarity about the other person’s perspective. Your role in their story may be big or small. Don’t judge or worry. Your aim is to see their point of view, and you will see it as clearly as you do yours.

Does everyone do this naturally? Well, I figured this out only very recently. But then I have no social skills to speak of. Every day I learn something new.