Cover artwork by Anton Biletskyi-Volokh, from an unpublished reusable sketchbook in progress.
A thematic selection of translated notebook fragments.
Through our relationships, we act out our relationship with ourselves.
Rescuing is one way of avoiding closeness.
Acting out being used as a way of confirming that you are needed.
An unsuitable partner as a form of self-punishment.
A helpless partner can be a way of feeling your own strength.
Treating yourself well is one expression of a healthy sense of your own worth.
Relationships are defined by attitudes. As the attitude is, so is the relationship.
Off-putting behaviour as a peculiar way of staying safe.
Suffering over someone means not having to face loneliness.
'The best version of yourself' is a rather objectifying way to relate to yourself.
A helpless partner as a way of avoiding your own helplessness.
To love is to forgive the real person for not matching the imagined one.
When an inner wound has not been worked through, avoiding relationships can sometimes be a matter of self-preservation.
Sometimes a relationship with an embittered other is a way of disarming the embittered self within.
The upside of relationships: we open up in them.
The downside of relationships: we open up in them.
Greed means losing touch with your sense of enough. Instead of 'enough', the magic word becomes 'more'.
Moderation is a sign of being in touch with yourself.
Why does someone need so much? To do themselves harm.
What can you do to start loving yourself? At least begin by noticing yourself.
The desire to control a partner reveals insecurity about yourself rather than about your partner.
The way someone treats those close to them is the way they treat themselves inside.