Self-denial in the pursuit of purpose generates true pleasure while self-indulgence in the pursuit of pleasure generates true misery.

Everything one has a right to do is not best to be done." Benjamin Franklin

I would not have traded the delights of my suffering for anything in the world.

Avoidance of self deception is a matter of integrity not comfort.

What does 'community service' mean? It destroys 'my' (sense of attachment for specific things, especially oneself) for the most part. If 'my' were to be destroyed completely, then One (the awakened Self, potey) is indeed the absolute Self (parmatma)! Then for Him, bliss will definitely prevail, will it not!

When you're unhappy, you get to pay a lot of attention to yourself. And you get to take yourself oh so very seriously. Your truly happy people, which is to say, your people who truly like themselves, they don't think about themselves very much. Your unhappy person resents it when you try to cheer him up, because that means he has to stop dwellin' on himself and start payin' attention to the universe. Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence.