Exploring Happiness #65- Taking Control Of Our Lives Poem by June Stepansky

Control is not about deprivation.
It’s about understanding limitations.
It’s the realization that
too much of a good thing
can ultimately be a bad thing.
and too much of a bad thing
can ultimately lead to self-destruction.
It’s about enjoying pleasures without satiation,
and experiencing tragedy without desolation.
Control moderates our strongest passions
and our deepest despair,
and makes survival possible.



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There has been a bias against control in our lives, because some current thought seems to imply that control stifles the spontaneity of living and curbs honest passions. But there is a line beyond which spontaneous passions should never cross, and that’s exactly the place where control must take over.

When we overeat, or over-spend—when we use others for our selfish purposes—when our anger becomes an ungovernable weapon, then control must be seen in its proper role as a constructive and helpful tool, guiding us to a better life.