I’m currently reading this book called On Being a Therapist, by Jeffrey A. Kottler. It’s about psychotherapy from the therapist’s point of view. Kottler, a therapist, sets forth a list of the themes that often recur in his advice to patients/clients. I found this list enlightening.

• If you do not take care of yourself, nobody else will.
• We will be dead for a very long time.
• Symptoms are useful in getting your attention.
• Symptoms will not go away until they are no longer needed.
• We are all afraid to be alone.
• If you do not expect anything, you will never be disappointed.
• One hundred years from now, nobody will care what you did with your life.
• The material world is seductive.
• Feeling powerless is a state of mind.
• We spend our lives trying to control our hormones.
• No matter what you do or say, half the world will like it and half the world will not.
• You will never have your parents’ approval.
• You have less to lose than you think.
• We will never ever be content for very long.
• It is hard to love without vulnerability.
• Change does not occur without risks.
• We are all afraid of being wrong.
• We do not like the responsibility of being right.
• Everything worth doing is difficult.

There we go. Humanity solved. You’re welcome.

(I would amend the last item on the list. Sometimes we don’t do worthwhile things because they seem suspiciously easy.)