Fill in the blank: The hardest thing to say to another person is not “I love you” or “I’m sorry” or even “You were right.” The hardest thing is ____________.
Now: does performing happiness make the happiness less real? Or does it make the performance the only real thing? David Foster Wallace somewhere (not here, not in this fictional octet, but somewhere) wrote that the really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline. But he also wrote about a woman who couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she was thinking. Which is this sentence’s trap door: you are now thinking about thinking about performing happiness. The octet applauds. The applause is lonely. octet david foster wallace pdf
True or false: You have, at some point in the last week, performed happiness for an audience of one — a spouse, a parent, a cashier, a pet. You have smiled the smile that costs calories. You have said “fine” when fine was a lie so large it had its own gravitational field. Fill in the blank: The hardest thing to
One of the members of this group (the outer frame) raises a hand and says: “Is this supposed to be about me? Because I feel accused.” The facilitator — a man with a beard that seems designed to communicate sensitivity — says: “That’s the mechanism. Accusation is the first layer of honesty. The second layer is: so what?” David Foster Wallace somewhere (not here, not in
If your answer is “I don’t know” or “That’s a stupid question” or “Why am I reading this,” you are correct. The correct answer is always a question.