"Sometimes even living is an act of courage." (Seneca) Letters from a Stoic.

"Sometimes even living is an act of courage." (Seneca) Letters from a Stoic. “There are three things in life that never come back: the arrow shot, the word spoken and the opportunity lost.” (Chinese proverb) When it is difficult for us to see the future with any clarity, we have to think about what we may or may not have learned from the past. We all like to live in this paradox of being here and feeling eternal, knowing that tomorrow may never come. Looking is not always seeing. It turns out that sometimes even if we are looking at something repeatedly, we come to the conclusion that we are out of time – out of our time. As Mário Quintana (Brazilian poet) said: “Learn that suddenly words can mean nothing, something very important or several things. Learn that some moments are useless... and that others, which seem so simple, but change everything.” Perhaps that is why we feel the need for some darkness to be able to understand or not, and that is why closing our eyes may be the only way to see what is essential for us to live. However, we must always keep in mind that “when a given word is not fulfilled, all other words become unreliable.” (author unknown) In fact, we all have days when longing “takes us by surprise” and arrives without warning, leaving a tightness in our chest and filling our heads with moments from the past, and in those moments we feel that “longing” is the price we have to pay for having lived unforgettable moments that we thought were indestructible. “During our lives: We meet people who come and stay, others who come and pass. There are those who come, stay and, after some time, leave. But there are those who come and leave with an enormous desire to stay...” (Charles Chaplin)