When people are saying cruel words to me
it helps me when I say “They are being cruel to me”
as I name and blame their behaviour
then what they say loses moral-credibility
then I don’t have to listen to them anymore
then I don’t have to be affected;
When people are saying cruel words to me
I do my best to ignore them,
and I re-focus my mind on striving for my joy and happiness.

When I was a youth
I expected the world to be good to me,
I expected people to treat me fairly, kindly and justly,
and I was disappointed, hurt and angry
when I was treated unfairly, unkindly and unjustly.

Now that I am wiser
I realise
that people are broken and suffering
and struggling to cope with life,
and they care more about their own survival and pleasure
than they care about being kind, fair and just to me,
so I no longer expect the world to be good to me
and I no longer feel disappointed, hurt and angry;
Now I feel compassion for people
And I take responsibility
to treat people fairly, kindly and justly,
and I make my best attempt
to lead people to treat me fairly, kindly and justly.

When I was at university
the standard used to judge
my essay
was “is it knowledgeable and sophisticated
in its use of concepts”,
and so I did my best
writing essays
to display my knowledge
of what authorities said
in a sophisticated way
like a DJ samples famous songs;

Now that I’m wiser
I realise
knowledgeable-sophistication
is not the wisdom
I need to achieve my joy and happiness,
and reading authoritative texts
and writing knowledgably-sophisticated essays
is a waste of my time,
and my time would be better spent
doing philosophy on my own experiences
to achieve the wisdom
I need to achieve my joy and happiness.

Is it better to have a wise mind
and be dressed in shabby clothes,
rather than have a shabby mind
dressed in finery?
But is it best
to have both
a wise mind and be well-dressed?

When I was a youth
I was ambitious
to be recognised
as a know-it-all,
and so I often spoke
beyond my experience,
speculating when I did not have experiential-evidence;

Now that I’m wiser,
I never speak beyond the evidence
of my experience.

When I was a youth
I thought I was right
and everyone else was wrong;
Now that I’m wiser
I give respect to each person’s
unique perspective
and allow them the freedom
to be who they are;
the question for me is
how do I cooperate
with a unique other
to facilitate each other’s
joy and happiness?

I am humble
when I’m aware
that I don’t know anything for certain;
that all I am aware of
are philosophical-questions
with uncertain changing answers.