The paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, I change

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Pedro suggested this can be read as a story about the transition from internal mediation to intimate mediation, the latter of which Girard discussed in Achever Clausewitz. I wasn’t familiar with that part of Girard’s work but found it interesting I’m with Sarris on this—I very much dislike my essays on the day I publish them but am quite fond of them a year later. One thing that helps make publishing less humiliating, which I realized this year, is that I need to put on loud music and dance right after I press send. That seems to trick the body into feeling good about it. How strange, I always feel the opposite. Right before publishing I am tempted to delete (as I do so many drafts). It feels obvious, overwrought, superfluous, repetitive. Then when I read something old, it reads OK, it seems clear enough. I read in the newspaper that the library in our village has some of the individuals who borrow most books in all of Denmark, and it makes me wonder There’s this idea you hear from som

Almost three years ago, I wrote an essay, called “Looking for Alice,” about how I met my wife Johanna. This is a prequel of sorts. See also: part 2 and part 3 of the series. The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change. —Carl Rogers On various hard drives and USB sticks stored in our barn, I keep the diaries from my university years, 2010–2014. Last week I reread them for the first time since I wrote them. It was interesting, but also uncomfortable, to see myself at such a distance. Many of the things that were important to me then are not visible from…

The paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, I change

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