My mother used to say not sleeping was the sign of a guilty mind. It could have been. There was a lot in my mind to feel guilty about. When you__e drunk and trying to sleep, your thoughts are visited by the ghosts of those deeds whose heat still glows hottest in your personal darkness. Our actions burn much longer than the moments in which they occur. And drunks like me, we hide from the glow of the embers by fueling other fires and hiding within the flames.

When I take a break, even just a brief one, the creative energy flows in. Only then do I have anything of value to share with others. Once I recognized this, I stopped feeling guilty about taking time for myself.

Death abides by no one's rules...it takes what pleases it without consciousness to its decisions. It destroys what it will. It took the pieces of perfection I once knew and shattered them. Now what remains are shards of a dream, drawing blood with every step.

One thing I have come to realize is that love is not always happiness.

The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself. It is in this relationship that you set the standard for all others.

Because that__ life, you know? Good and bad. You can__ have one without the other. The bad brings out the good in us, and the good can be corrupted by the bad. It__ always a struggle__o fight for the good, so it tips the scale. - Jet Phoenix