“

You have forgotten. You forgot your laugh. It’s not about how it sounds, but how it makes you feel. You see, you only laugh when you are happy.

“

I picture your heart like a series of doors. I unlock one and slip a little bit further inside, only to be greeted by another door and another lock.

“

There are certain truths we cannot see because we have internalized clichés that mask them with a superficial similarity. I had always shied away from “positive affirmations” – italics here are representative of a knowing cynicism – because I imagined that they were intended to make me “like” myself, and that once I “liked” myself all of my problems would evaporate.