Life can be really pleasant … a beach. Life can be really unpleasant … a bitch! This happens both when you do not get something you want, and when you do get something you do not want.

Sex, booze, rock and roll; weed, speed and birth control; life’s a beach and then you die; so fuck the world and let’s get high

When you feel bad – anxious, angry, sad – it is a good time to review your expectations, to think carefully about what you want and what you want to avoid.

It is easy to get confused about your basic needs, things you must have to survive and thrive (shelter, clothing, sustenance, sanitation, useful employment, feeling valued and loved) and your desires, things you want.

It is good to review these from time to time; and not only your desires, but also your addictions: things you crave but do not really need. Things you fear losing and being without.

These things to which you become attached include people, possessions, places, activities, sensory experiences, even values, beliefs, ideas and ideologies – the very factors which seem to define who you think you are.

Life’s a bitch when any of these are threatened, challenged or taken away. But the wise among us know that you can not go through life without experiencing loss.

You can fight against it (and lose anyway), or you can stop bitching and go with it.