Running Through

This is why I love keeping old emails. They're like old letters you find in an old shoe box hidden in a musty old room for many old years until you stumble on them again looking for the faded memories of your good ol' days. Ah... Nolstagia sounds like the name of a beautiful Russian doll.

> Here's something I found from an old book. Can't remember the title.
> Book of Etiquette I think. Published in 1941. I'm not one for all the
> self-help rubbish, but this kinda spoke to me.
>
> "There are certain plants so sensitive that their leaves close the moment
> they are touched. There are people like these plants who are so highly
> sensitive that at the least slight, fancied or real, they close up
> tightly within themselves.
>
> Sensitiveness is a form of pride, and pride offends and irritates
> people. It is an exaggerated form of self-consciousness. It is the
> result of too much thinking about self.
>
> If you are sensitive you build a barrier about yourself. People are
> afraid to talk to you for fear they may hurt your feelings. They must be
> forever on guard. They do not feel comfortable in your company.
>
> Tear down this barrier! Don't go about with the injured air of martyr.
> People may sympathize with you, but they will not welcome you and be
> glad to see you. If you see two persons talking together, don't be sure
> that they are discussing you. They are not. Don't imagine that you are
> the center of observation, that people are criticizing you, that every
> careless remark is meant as a personal affront.
>
> It is selfish, this sensitiveness. It reveals sooner than anything else
> that you are bound up in your own little world, that you are not
> interested in things outside of yourself. The way to overcome it is to
> mingle freely with people and to be as impersonal as you possibly can.
> Do not brood over simple remarks and magnify them in your mind. Refuse
> to accept an affront. Force yourself to overlook the trifles that you
> are inclined to take so seriously."