Arthur Brooks

This is one of the reasons that you find that when people start to get really famous, that they're much more at ease in front of a thousand people than they are in front of one person.

Because they actually have to use a different set of social skills.

They've got the theater ability in front of a thousand people, but when they're actually talking to mom,

or you know an actual no fooling girlfriend life it gets real dicey real fast right it's what it comes down to but but what you put your finger on is that look you will pay in private for what you're applauded for in public but you will also you know what you're paying for in private is the source of your strength in public and that what that means is that you shouldn't just try to

You shouldn't just be thankful for what they're applauding you for in public.

On the contrary, you should be down on your knees, thankful for the weaknesses that you have as well.

And that's the pro move.

That's what it comes down to.

That's actually how we ultimately learn to manage ourselves, is that we recognize that we have these frailties, that we have these weaknesses, that we have these feet of clay.

And we say, thank you, thank you, thank you for that weakness.

Because indeed, that is the source of my strength.

yeah most of the things that you're most ashamed of are just the dark side of something light that you're really proud of yeah and you know if you've got a sword most swords are double-edged and sometimes it nicks you on the backswing yeah that doesn't mean that you throw the sword away yeah just means that you learn how to hold it properly yeah and then the ace move is being grateful for the wound for the wound itself it's really interesting because actually what you find in a lot of eastern philosophy is that you know we have a tendency to be very stoic about the way we talk about problems and suffering and weakness in our life to say i will bear up under it

I will, I do accept it.

I do accept it, but it's not enough to accept it.

You need to love it.

That's really, that ultimately is what makes you fully human, is to actually love it and to accept it as the divine will.

This is the way it's going to be.

And because it's happening, that's what I want.

My will, I want, what I want is what is happening, sort of axiomatically.

I realize it's sort of philosophical in its way, but ultimately I think this is where we need to get in our lives.