Duty for dummies

Available  here

You remember C.S. Lewis, from the Narnia Tales? The one that used to drink with Tolkien in a quaint little pub in Oxford. I always wonder at how many pints the dragons started to appear. 

Apparently C.S. Lewis received a lot of letters from children, which he answered at some length, offering advice. In a letter to a girl named Sarah, dated April 3, 1949, he writes:

"Remember that there are only three kinds of things anyone need ever do.

1. Things we ought to do
2. Things we’ve got to do
3. Things we like doing.

I say this because some people seem to spend so much of their time doing things for none of the three reasons, things like reading books they don’t like because other people read them. Things you ought to do are things like doing one’s school work or being nice to people. Things one has got to do are things like dressing and undressing, or household shopping. Things one likes doing — but of course I don’t know what you like. Perhaps you’ll write and tell me one day."

Now isn't that an excellent breakdown of "what to do" for (semi) grown-ups like me - with a conscience that weighs heavily upon my need to play?

Methinks

 Click here for further reading

You know how your head can be full of thoughts making you miserable because they blot you out, take your light away?
For instance: I am a bad  .... (person, boss, mother, friend, ...) and therefore I do not deserve .... (a good life, money, flat belly, child, job, health, respect, ....).
The correct psychological term for such thinking  is "cognitive distortion". But that is just the definition. Or diagnosis if you like.


The point is, I remind myself, that such thoughts are not authentic.  I am not the author. Just the thinker. Thinking very blue thoughts.