Of course, I now tuck that phrase quite perfectly into the Swedish-Minnesotan piety in which I long stewed that believes there are no greater crimes against humanity than A) Immodesty, and B) Imposing on anyone for anything, ever, for any reason whatsoever.

The single biggest mistake most people make in trying to get happy is that they do more things that make them happy. In fact, that is only half the battle. It's the easy part! What needs to happen before that is far more difficult.

It is one of life’s ugliest, yet most beautiful paradoxes: creation and destruction are forever inextricably dancing; pain and joy live in the same breath; blessings and curses can never be extricated from their mad embrace. We, it seems, need only have the eyes to see, and the courage to look into the eye of the beast that afflicts us at any given moment or period of life.