Adam Phillips talks about the missing life that we narrate internally.  We are missing out on a life we dream about, pinning away for whatever it is we do not have at the moment. Thereby forfeiting the positive experience of the life we have. He subtitled his book:  In Praise of the Unlived Life.  It is a wonderfully assessable thesis that engages the psychoanalytic devotee in a conversation that is about the inner landscape of human existence.  He begins with desire as the source of both satisfaction and frustration.

Being absorbed in the everydayness of existence is the art of life.  Being alone with our inner landscape is a process that some enjoy more than others.  For some, the everydayness of life ought to be avoided for fear that it will bring about more fear. It has the capacity of madness, and what we know about analysis is that at…