https://www.thebetterliving.org/insights.html In-depth reflections on the meaning and balance of life, the emptiness after success, and the inner life beyond the surface. en The Better Living andrea@thebetterliving.org (Andrea Sait) https://www.thebetterliving.org/assets/logo-512.png https://www.thebetterliving.org/insights.html Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-depth-and-vastness-of-life.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-depth-and-vastness-of-life.html You have been living in a corridor. The sky was outside the whole time. Contemplation Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/stillness-as-a-skill.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/stillness-as-a-skill.html The moment you stop, you meet everything you have been outrunning. Presence Mon, 15 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-ordinary-hour-you-keep-postponing.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-ordinary-hour-you-keep-postponing.html Not the holiday. The Tuesday evening you keep meaning to be present for. Presence Tue, 16 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-midlife-question-no-one-prepared-you-for.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-midlife-question-no-one-prepared-you-for.html You did everything right, and arrived at a question you cannot answer. Meaning Mon, 21 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/no-one-is-coming-to-tell-you-it-was-enough.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/no-one-is-coming-to-tell-you-it-was-enough.html You have been waiting for a permission that was never going to be issued. Self-worth Tue, 28 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/why-you-never-see-the-whole-of-it.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/why-you-never-see-the-whole-of-it.html You are certain. That is exactly the problem. The mind Mon, 14 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-quiet-lies-your-mind-tells-you.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-quiet-lies-your-mind-tells-you.html Your own mind is not always on your side. The mind Mon, 27 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-vastness-you-keep-looking-away-from.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-vastness-you-keep-looking-away-from.html You are very small. It is not an insult. It may be a relief. Contemplation Tue, 06 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/how-much-of-you-did-you-choose.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/how-much-of-you-did-you-choose.html You were written before you could hold the pen. Conditioning Mon, 12 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-bigger-it-got-the-emptier-it-felt.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-bigger-it-got-the-emptier-it-felt.html You built something magnificent, and moved into a ruin. Meaning Mon, 21 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-wants-that-were-never-yours.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-wants-that-were-never-yours.html You chased them your whole life. Were they ever yours? The inner life Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-meaning-you-were-waiting-to-be-given.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-meaning-you-were-waiting-to-be-given.html Nobody hands it to you at the end. That is the hard part, and the freeing one. Meaning Tue, 21 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/feeling-like-a-fraud-when-everyone-thinks-youve-made-it.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/feeling-like-a-fraud-when-everyone-thinks-youve-made-it.html The more they admire you, the more alone you feel with the truth. Belonging Mon, 13 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-depression-no-one-would-believe.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-depression-no-one-would-believe.html You are admired, envied, and quietly drowning. Belonging Mon, 17 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/why-nothing-excites-you-anymore.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/why-nothing-excites-you-anymore.html The colour went out of things, and you did not notice when. The inner life Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-exhaustion-that-sleep-doesnt-fix.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-exhaustion-that-sleep-doesnt-fix.html You rest, and wake as tired as before. Self-compassion Mon, 27 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/when-you-have-no-one-to-be-weak-in-front-of.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/when-you-have-no-one-to-be-weak-in-front-of.html You hold everyone. No one thinks to hold you. Belonging Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-years-you-spent-preparing-to-live.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-years-you-spent-preparing-to-live.html You were getting ready. The whole time, this was it. Presence Mon, 24 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-self-you-gave-away-to-keep-the-peace.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-self-you-gave-away-to-keep-the-peace.html You kept everyone comfortable, and lost the one who was not. Belonging Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/giving-until-there-was-nothing-left.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/giving-until-there-was-nothing-left.html You called it generosity. It was also a slow disappearing. Self-compassion Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-truth-you-keep-from-yourself.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-truth-you-keep-from-yourself.html You already know it. You have simply agreed not to look directly at it. Self-honesty Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-unseen-woman.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-unseen-woman.html You made a whole life possible, and slowly disappeared inside it. For Women Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-self-you-have-never-accepted.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-self-you-have-never-accepted.html There is one person you have spent your whole life avoiding, the one you can never leave. Self-acceptance Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/learning-self-love-after-achievement.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/learning-self-love-after-achievement.html You have always had to earn the right to be kind to yourself. What that costs, quietly. Self-compassion Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/who-would-you-be-without-your-achievements.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/who-would-you-be-without-your-achievements.html Take away everything you have done. Something is still standing there. Identity Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-practice-of-self-understanding.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-practice-of-self-understanding.html You have understood everything except the one who did the understanding. The Inner Life Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-beautiful-things-your-busyness-hides.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-beautiful-things-your-busyness-hides.html Your days are full, and a whole quiet world is passing you by. Presence Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/still-running-and-no-longer-sure-why.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/still-running-and-no-longer-sure-why.html You have run so long you have forgotten what you were running from. The inner life Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-life-you-would-live-if-no-one-were-watching.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-life-you-would-live-if-no-one-were-watching.html Every choice you made had an audience. Even the private ones. Authenticity Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-hidden-loneliness-of-successful-people.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-hidden-loneliness-of-successful-people.html Surrounded, admired, and unmet, the loneliness that fills a successful life, and cannot be spoken. Belonging Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-success-that-stopped-feeling-like-enough.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-success-that-stopped-feeling-like-enough.html You reached it, and the finish line simply moved. Meaning Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/finding-meaning-beyond-materialism.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/finding-meaning-beyond-materialism.html When there is nothing left to buy, and still something left to want. Where meaning actually lives. Meaning Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-arrival-fallacy.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-arrival-fallacy.html You reached the top of the ladder and felt the ground fall away. Why the summit disappoints. The Inner Life Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-balance-between-inner-and-outer-life.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-balance-between-inner-and-outer-life.html You built one life beautifully. The other has been waiting outside it. Balance Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/what-was-success-really.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/what-was-success-really.html You reached it, and then began to wonder what it was. Meaning Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-emptiness-after-success.html https://www.thebetterliving.org/the-emptiness-after-success.html The strange grief of getting everything you wanted, and feeling almost nothing at all. Meaning Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT