Be Kind
Tomorrow’s events:
The Stoic Hustle w/ Peter Limberg. Every Tuesday-Friday @ 8:00 AM ET. Patreon events. 4 hours.
Soul Shivers: Dialogues on Earth Regeneration w/ Freya Yost, Luea Ritter, Jane Ruka, Amber Tamm, Naomi Mwangi and Alexandra Gavilano. February 9th, 16th, 23rd, and March 2nd @ 1:00 PM ET. RSVP here. 90 mins.
***
March 1st, 2021
There is a quote, which is falsely attributed to Plato, that is probably the best falsely attributed quote I know of. It goes: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
I forget this wisdom often, especially with those who are my friends. I am not intentionally unkind, but I am not an easy friend. I never promised to be an easy friend. That is not what you sign up for when you become my friend, and sometimes a difficult friend can be a stupid friend, and stupid friends can be unkind.
I was a stupid friend today. I do not want to burden you with the details, maybe because I do not want to look bad, and I would look bad. I probably would not look too bad, but it is bad enough to make me feel regret.
I have an intense desire to have virtuous friends, and feeling into the intensity of this desire, it feels like it manifests unvirtuously at times, in such a way where I act stupid, and forget the wisdom that can come with falsely attributed quotes.
I want to be a hero now, and make amends. I've got some ideas already. I am clever like that. I am tired of being clever though, and I just want to sit with this. My friend has a forgiving heart, and he seemed to have already forgiven me. Perhaps the lesson here is to feel into the kindness of his forgiveness.
People seem to give me second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances ... I do not know what to do with all of these chances. I do not want to keep fucking up, while getting by with a clever move or two. Not anymore. It is time for something new. Well, being virtuous is something old, but it is new for me.
This friend sent me a new song from Bright Eyes recently, which is a cover of Vic Chesnutt’s song called “Flirted With You All My Life.” I have been listening to it on repeat while writing this. The song is about death, which is related to everything I just wrote about here. The lyrics are sweet, they are making these eyes a little wet, and they are allowing me to stay with my regret ...
I am a man
I am self-aware
Everywhere I go
You're always right there with me
I flirted with you all my life
Even kissed you once or twice
And to this day I swear it was nice
But, clearly, I was not ready
When you touched a friend of mine
I thought that I would lose my mind
But I found out with time
That, really, I was not ready
***
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