You know, in my private life—I must confess to you—I’ve had a terrible time with this because I love my work. And people who had absolutely, say, no comprehension or interest in what I’m doing would wonder how do I keep up the pace? How can I possibly do this, that, and the other? I love it. But then there are other people who say, “You never do a lick of work in your life! You’re playing all the time. Just goofing off. It’s too easy for you”—see?—“because you love it.” But that’s the only way to get it done, and done well! Because if you have something that is, say, a good marriage: a good marriage is not the result of forcing yourself into that marriage. Are you seriously supposing that if you say to your husband or wife, “Darling, do you really love me?” and the partner answers, “I’m trying my best to do so.” This is simply not a satisfactory marriage. We are not going to get beautiful work by mere effort against the grain. When you—you can tell a cook instantly, by tasting one mouthful of a dish, whether it was cooked out of a sense of duty or cooked out of love. A person, say, who cooks out of true love would, of course, encounter days on which it is difficult. But somehow, the overall love of the art will manage to get him through those days when it’s difficult. And so with marriage, and so with the mastery of any other art. But it is on the end of the older people—it is up to the teachers, the parents—to present the disciplines of life as something that’s not just what you ought to know, but as something that it is beautiful to understand. -Alan Watts- #alanwatts #deepthoughts #philosophy #peaceintheparoxysm #love #loveit #dowhatyoulove #lovewhatyoudo #happinesswithin #innerpeace #teachyourchildrenwell https://www.instagram.com/p/BxPFiN3FweL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xwn0qbhf17xk
