Like all addictions, with time obsession makes us neglect parts of our lives we shouldn't. If allowed to become too consuming, obsession causes us to devalue important dimensions of our lives and tolerate their atrophy and even their collapse. But even if our lives remain in balance, if the object of our obsession is taken from us, we find ourselves devastated, often convinced we've lost our last chance at happiness

Do not seek to extinguish obsession but seek to control it. Our ability to bend our emotions to our will is poor, but not our ability to manage them. We can make our obsessions work for us rather than work us over. And we can learn to let them ...