Sleep is beautiful

..because you don't have to deal with people and conflicts and expectations and disappointments when you are asleep. There's no hurt, no stress, no discomfort and no anger. It's one of the most peaceful ways to be with yourself.

A temporary mini-death, sleep is paradoxically the easiest way to add life to your years. The entire process - putting your body in a dormant state, organs and tissues repairing themselves, our mind reliving through fantastic dreams our immediate and distant past and doing this every few hours routinely - is like a miracle.    For me, the way our brain filters out most of the surrounding noise to let itself sleep is amazing. How incredible that we can turn off listening (or at least not be bothered by what we hear) even though our ears are open.

Those who cannot sleep peacefully are truly unfortunate.

Your source of happiness need not be someone else

By finding your primary happiness in the things you do and find enjoyable, you liberate others and yourself. When you want others to take care of your happiness, they have to behave in a way that fulfills your expectations. And the same happens to you when others have this expectation of you. Nothing wrong in that and some constraints brought on by external expectations do improve the quality of life. The trick is not to let it get to the point of being over-bearing.

If instead you find your own source of happiness, whatever the other person does or you do for them is a bonus to whatever they had earlier.

There's of course joy in doing things for the people you love, it will make you and them happy. But this shouldn't be the main source of your happiness. Let it be the icing, not the cake.