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William Braxton Irvine

William Braxton Irvine Books

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“By contemplating the impermanence of everything in the world, we are forced to recognize that every time we do something could be the last time we do it, and this recognition can invest the things we do with a significance and intensity that would otherwise be absent. We will no longer sleepwalk through our life.”

WorldLifeLastsTimeOur LivesRecognitionSignificanceIntensityContemplatingLast TimeEnjoy LifeAbsentLife Is Too ShortImpermanenceAppreciate LifeLife Well LivedLife Is Fragile
Author:William Braxton Irvine
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“Desire animates the world. It is present in the baby crying for milk, the girl struggling to solve a math problem, the woman running to meet her lover and later deciding to have children, and the old woman, hunched over her walker, moving down the hall of the nursing home at a glacial pace to pick up her mail. Banish desire from the world, and you get a world of frozen beings who have no reason to live and no reason to die.”

WorldChildrenReasonProblemHomeRunningMovingDesireDiesGirlStruggleCryBabyLoversPicksSolveMathNo ReasonHallsPaceMilkMailFrozenNursingOld WomanWalkersNursing HomeReason To LiveMath ProblemsNo Reason To Live
Book:On Desire: Why We Want what We Want
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“At spare moments in the day, make it a point to contemplate the loss of whatever you value in life. Engaging in such contemplation can produce a dramatic transformation in your outlook on life. It can make you realize, if only for a time, how lucky you are - how much you have to be thankful for, almost regardless of your circumstances.”

IfsMomentsValuesRealizingLossCircumstancesGratitudeLuckyContemplatingSparesBeing ThankfulValue Of LifeLucky You
Author:William Braxton Irvine
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