Humble the Poet - Unlearn

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by

HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

First published in the United States by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers , 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

Copyright © Humble the Poet 2019

Humble the Poet asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008359621

Ebook Edition © 2019 ISBN: 9780008359638

Version: 2019-09-11

To attain knowledge,

add things every day.

To attain wisdom,

remove things every day.

—LAO TZU

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Epigraph

Introduction

Chapter 0. Why?

Chapter 1. No Straight Lines

Chapter 2. Want to Be Happier in 5 Easy Steps?

Chapter 3. Unhappiness Is Simple

Chapter 4. The Gift of Fear

Chapter 5. Golden Girls

Chapter 6. Death Trap for Dependencies

Chapter 7. We Carry a Lot Through Our Lives

Chapter 8. When Less Is More

Chapter 9. Loving a Bottomless Pit

Chapter 10. How We Spend Our Days Becomes Our Life

Chapter 11. Putting Yourself First Is Not Selfish

Chapter 12. When Was the World Fair?

Chapter 13. You’re Going to Die

Chapter 14. Who Are You?

Chapter 15. We All Have Our Stresses

Chapter 16. Pave Your Own Road—There’s Less Traffic

Chapter 17. Don’t Sabotage Yourself

Chapter 18. Time Heals All, But Not on Your Schedule

Chapter 19. A Lesson from 50 Cent

Chapter 20. You Can Be Whatever the Fuck You Want

Chapter 21. Lonely Is a Feeling, Not a Circumstance

Chapter 22. Don’t Trust Everything You Feel

Chapter 23. Things Get Overwhelming Quickly

Chapter 24. I Don’t Know You

Chapter 25. Hukam

Chapter 26. Money Is a Funny Thing

Chapter 27. A Fear Overcome Is a Strength Acquired

Chapter 28. Trust Your Wings

Chapter 29. You Have Reasons to Be Miserable

Chapter 30. Fluffy Pillows and the Truth

Chapter 31. Is It Ignorance or Apathy?

Chapter 32. Comparisons Are Killer

Chapter 33. High Expectations and Low Patience

Chapter 34. Help Those You Love the Way You Love

Chapter 35. Let’s Talk About Your Beliefs

Chapter 36. Allow Your Heart Some Character

Chapter 37. The More We Let Go, the More We Gain

Chapter 38. Heartbreaks Are Essential

Chapter 39. Another Lesson from 50 Cent

Chapter 40. People Are Expensive

Chapter 41. Sometimes We Need to Suffer

Chapter 42. Falling in Love with Learning

Chapter 43. Fewer Expectations, Fewer Disappointments

Chapter 44. Fitting in Is a Pointless Activity

Chapter 45. Ghostbusters

Chapter 46. You Can’t Save ’em All

Chapter 47. It Hurts to Care Sometimes

Chapter 48. Which Emotions Are You Feeding?

Chapter 49. You Can’t Protect Your Bubble

Chapter 50. You Have to Do What’s Best for You

Chapter 51. The Religion of “Want”

Chapter 52. Don’t Let Someone Else Write Your Story

Chapter 53. Depending on Luck Is for Suckers

Chapter 54. I Met This Girl Once …

Chapter 55. Don’t Know Yourself, Can’t Be Yourself

Chapter 56. Oh Man, How Scary It Is to Ask for Help

Chapter 57. Are You Happy?

Chapter 58. Regrets Are Stupid

Chapter 59. Nobody Fits In

Chapter 60. All My Mothers

Chapter 61. Only Boring People Get Bored

Chapter 62. One Promise of Life Is that It’s Going to End

Chapter 63. Love Is a Gift Not a Loan

Chapter 64. Self-Pity Is Self-Sabotage

Chapter 65. Worms of Validation

Chapter 66. Which Way Is Your Spiral Headed?

Chapter 67. How Do Others See You?

Chapter 68. You Decide Your Worth

Chapter 69. The Storm Is in Your Mind, Not in Your Life

Chapter 70. Put That Heart on a Leash

Chapter 71. Are You in It to Give or Receive?

Chapter 72. Fight!

Chapter 73. You Need to Forgive

Chapter 74. Labels Are Dehumanizing

Chapter 75. Celebrate Your Scars

Chapter 76. Validation Is a Helluva Drug

Chapter 77. Fake It ’til You Make It

Chapter 78. Baby Steps Add Up

Chapter 79. You Only Have So Much Time

Chapter 80. Don’t Infect Yourself with Negativity

Chapter 81. Words Are Weapons, If You Allow Them to Be

Chapter 82. You Are a Work of Art in Progress

Chapter 83. Losing a Piece of Ourselves

Chapter 84. Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself

Chapter 85. What’s Right and Wrong?

Chapter 86. Embrace Your Challenges

Chapter 87. How Rarely They Think of Us

Chapter 88. Love and Logic Won’t Hold Hands

Chapter 89. Smile to Feel It or Conceal It?

Chapter 90. Killing Expectations Births Happiness

Chapter 91. What’s Taking Up Space in Your Life?

Chapter 92. Living the Width of Your Life

Chapter 93. The More Love You Give, the More You Get?

Chapter 94. The Only Constant