A line I’ve shared before but that I think bears repeating, from the mind of psychotherapist and writer Sheldon Kopp, goes like this: “We often prefer the control of guaranteed unhappiness over the uncertainty of possible happiness.”

And here’s a short visual poem based on the quote:

Guaranteed Unhappiness
I grasp the flower
so I don’t lose it,
so it doesn’t leave my sight,
so no one
can take it from me.

When there is wind,
or rain,
I grasp tighter.
I tuck the flower
inside my palm,
and squeeze.

I can’t bear to look,
because I know
the flower is crushed.
So I maintain
my grasp
and try to think
of other things.

At least
I crushed it,
not someone
or something
else.

These flowers
are constantly growing,
constantly a new season.

Which do I choose,
Now:

the control of

guaranteed unhappiness

or

the uncertainty of

possible happiness?

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