

“Many teachers think of children as immature adults. It might lead to better and
more ‘respectfulâ€� teaching, if we thought of adults as atrophied children.”
― Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre
more ‘respectfulâ€� teaching, if we thought of adults as atrophied children.”
― Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre
“Development in adulthood, and in marriage, requires using the past to animate the present. We lose many things in life. We lose people we love, our younger selves, our children's babyhoods, and the crazy-in-love phase with our partner. We mourn the losses and keep the memories and past selves alive in us-through rituals, reminiscence, and loving action toward othres, investing in the future- is one of the greatest gifts of mature adulthood. From midlife onward, perceiving oneself as generative gives people not only a sense of meaning, but appears to relate to greater health and longer health.”
― The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together
― The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together
“When you can’t feel or act in a way that connects you to your bigger-picture goal of warmth and harmony, it’s worth attempting a “bottom-upâ€� rather than a “top-downâ€� strategy, focusing on the in-the-moment possibilities for awareness, kindness, and responsiveness. A finer-grained attention to what you are each doing to cause bad interactions can enable you to notice what each of you could do differently and gently lead you away from dwelling in a miasma of emotional negativity that toxifies the whole relational atmosphere. Attention to process, not outcome; awareness in the moment; tuning in to your own emotional weather—these are valuable mindfulness techniques under any circumstances, but they are particularly important to creating the moments of repair or attunement that can then promote a more positive big picture. As”
― The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together
― The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together
“In a couple allowing each other aloneness is part of allowing each other to explore, have interests, and play. One puts oneself in the other's place through sympathetic imagination. Each person recognizes that "my partner has to do this to be who (s)he is". Each can tolerate the idea "you will forget about me, will forget I'm alive" for some stretch of time, and each accepts, supports, and respects that. At the same time, they share an understanding: "I need you to come back and remember I'm alive and that I need things from you". In a good relationship we are constantly calibrating and adjusting the elastic band of distance and closeness. Sometimes it's pulled tighter and sometimes it's more slack. But the security built over time allows for solitude and immersive experience.”
― The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together
― The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together
“Exaggerating my partner's position allows me to fight with him, rather than ask myself the hard questions about what I believe we can afford. I delegate certain attribute to my partner -for example, recasting his reasonable concern as his "negative" approach to money- while claiming other attributes for myself- I spend as a way to "stand up for myself" in the face of my partner's "control" or to express my "sense of adventure in the face of my partner's" "inertia”
― The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together
― The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together
Mohammad’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Mohammad’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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