20/08/2025
One of my favorite poems is "If" by Rudyard Kipling. Here's the first half:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same
I recommend gratitude because of its association with lowering anxiety and depression Sometimes I create gratitude by comparing myself to a less fortunate situation, or less fortunate others. Conversely, I create discontentment by comparing myself to a more fortunate situation, or more fortunate others. Maybe I should treat these two imposters the same. It's a good reminder just to stay in the present.
