Time is the ultimate finite constraint. It dictates non negotiable limitations. The number of sunsets, breakfasts, celebrations and challenges are all limited. Something as mundane as the routine need to eat illuminates an opportunity to tell the people around you, I love you.

Like burning a piece of toast, it’s not the desired outcome. And like a burnt piece of toast, it’s easy to choose discarding the emotion as the obvious choice. Yet beneath the burnt edges there’s an underlying need, a why behind the defense.

Liam isn’t a good soccer player. Liam hasn’t scored a goal in the past six games. I’m so stupid. I misspelled a word in a presentation. Passing judgements is often the default, instead of making specific observations. This creates a barrier to empathy for oneself and others.

Boiling it all down to the essentials, what is needed to reach joy? Is it laughter? Or a close friendship? A sense of achievement? Or is it an internal decision irrespective of external elements?

Lincoln was 56 when he died. There were multiple assassination attempts before Booth’s succeeded. The week of Lincoln’s death was in the time of the Ides, the same time period that Julius Cesar was killed. His body guard at the theater was grossly negligent, drinking at a bar while Booth snuck in. His wife, already…