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Sanity Is a Verb: Calm, Balanced and Centered Is a Practice, Not a Goal

You will never find sanity ‘out there’ or ‘someday,’ but that does not mean all hope is lost.

Charles Black M.D.
Mind Cafe
7 min readJan 3, 2025

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Photo by Leonardo Iheme on Unsplash

Standard advice suggests that sanity — a calm, balanced and centred state of being — lies just beyond the next milestone. Once you land the big promotion, capture your next 1,000 social media followers or complete that marathon, you will finally be at peace.

This narrative is flawed because it’s based on one seductive but false premise: that sanity is an outcome to achieve rather than a starting point to embody. This misperception puts sanity in the future, a place your mind loves and loathes. You love the future because it’s a fantasy, a projection, a playground for your desires. Escaping into this fantasy takes you out of the present, which is real, raw and uncomfortable.

Yet, all your desires for the future produce frenetic striving, leading to anxiety. The more you fear things won’t work out as you imagine they must, the more you worry. The more you sacrifice today for your ideal tomorrow, the more frustrated you become. You can’t build a sane life on bricks of stress, imbalance and chaos.

So, where do you find sanity?

Sanity Isn’t Out There

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Mind Cafe
Mind Cafe

Published in Mind Cafe

Relaxed, inspiring essays about happiness.

Charles Black M.D.
Charles Black M.D.

Written by Charles Black M.D.

Dr. Charles Black is a general surgeon, author, photographer, outdoorsman, world traveler and fireside philosopher. Website:https://chuckbphilosophy.com

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