I've been thinking about one of my favorite quotes a bit these days. Its one that I have hanging on the wall in my office to make me think when I get barking about one thing or another...
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
Friedrich Nietzsche - Aphorism 146
I take it as a little reminder when I start getting angry or complaining about...well, almost anything...that maybe I'm not any better than what I'm up in arms over. If I'm so busy ripping about some of my acquaintances or circumstances, maybe I should just shut up and take the high ground instead of going down the same path I'm so unhappy about.
Be it personal, financial or occupational, it's awful easy to become the monster as the quote says, and once you do...there is no winning.
I don't much believe in things like New Year's resolutions and such where you suddenly make up your mind to change and then just do it because of an arbitrary date. It might work if you're resolving to keep your tires rotated on time but it's probably less likely to make a difference in how you behave. I do think that being aware when a part of your world doesn't feel right and taking some action to fix it is something that you need to do all the time.
Maybe it's the fact that I hit that five-oh milestone that sharpened the focus a little and made me think about these kind of things a bit more. A little introspection on occasion can't be all bad.
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