I examine myself in a subdued manner, reconciling what sentiments I have about my state in relation to the world around me, to time & to the ideals I hold in my heart. Childishness is a refusal of truth, idiocy the ignorance of it. 

 كُنْ فِي الدُّنْيَا كَأَنَّكَ غَرِيبٌ، أَوْ عَابِرُ سَبِيلٍ

Be in the world as if you are a stranger or a wayfarer.

[Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 425]

This hadith is an excellent reminder of the briefness of life.

The wayfarer is lonely, he is the perpetual stranger. His treasures are immaterial, his pleasures beyond the superficial. He enjoys what he has, when he has them but does not cling. The stranger is forgiving because he knows the people that populate his world are but brief encounters.