James, thank you for you sharing your thoughts with me. I sincerely appreciate it.

“We are all insecure and we all want to be loved.”

I came to that exact same realization at some point in the last 10 years. I finally came to see that — exceptions notwithstanding — people are cruel to us because they themselves are in pain. Emotional and psychological suffering drives so much of what we do. Every one of us wants to be accepted and valued, and when we don’t get the love and appreciation we need we tend to lash out against others (and/or against ourselves). I’ve actually written an entire article on the role that suffering plays in human behaviour; it should be posted in the next week or two.

I know all too well what it’s like to be on ‘go’ mode 24/7 and so I can certainly relate to your own drive for success. However, we all need to take time to ‘just be’ and to breathe — elsewise we run the risk of making ourselves unhealthy.

Cheers :)