Reading Venuss's beautiful, inspiring essay, made me think of a poem I translated from the French which I have up on my wall to remind me of these things. The original is by French writer Alexandre Jardin.

Imagine that you suddenly give yourself the right to be deliriously happy.

Yes, imagine for one second that you are no longer hostage to your fears, that you accept the dizzying array of your contradictions.

Imagine that your desires henceforth govern your existence, that you have relearned how to play, to move feely through the present moment.

Imagine that all of a sudden you are able to be lighthearted without ever being frivolous.

Imagine that you are resolutely free, that you have broken with the stifling role you think you must play in society. You have abandoned all fear of being judged.

Imagine that your need to give life to all the unpredictable selves that lie dormant within yourself is at last realized every day.

Imagine that your ability to marvel is intact, that an entirely new, ferocious, appetite awakens in you a thousand muted desires and as many thwarted hopes.

Imagine that you have become wise enough to finally be imprudent.

Imagine that traversing your depths inspires in you only joy.