Apologies

[touchring]

Re: Apologies

I have made some aggressive and brusque comments lately which were unwarranted. My physical and mental health have been in decline for a while now, which is really affecting my interactions with others.

Depending on the nature of your problems, alternative medicine and treatment techniques can work better than prescription medicine.

[wayiwalk]

Re: Apologies

We're still in this tunnel, but life being what it is, we'll probably always be in one tunnel or another. There are plenty of people who have lots of money and security, yet are totally miserable. There are plenty of people who have next to nothing, yet are happy. Happiness or misery is something we create in our own minds, and has relatively little to do with external situations. You can't wait for life to get better before you get happy. You get happy as a result of making life better for others.

Depression is a disease. Nihilism is anti-life, anti-nature. Since we are all a part of nature, and all healthy instincts are organized to sustain life, not death, then to be a nihilist is to be at war with one's own self. Going against nature like that, as if one is separate from nature, can only result in unhappiness. It's like trying to walk up a down escalator, then being disappointed that one didn't get anywhere and concluding that "life sucks".

Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned many times. Most people would be unhappy in prison, especially in an Indian prison. But I heard a story that one time when the officials came to release him, he refused to go because he was in the middle of teaching a meditation course to the other inmates. He actually paid rent to the prison so he could stay until he was finished teaching his course.

Gandhi didn't let the fact that they had imprisoned him make him feel like a prisoner.

Our response to life and life's events is largely a reflection of our own nature, our own background, our own brain chemistry. We can do little to change the world; we can only change ourselves. We can choose to be ruled by darkness, and relish it when others suffer as we do. Or we can choose to create meaning and joy in our lives by trying to make life better for others. It doesn't have to be anything huge. It can be as little as smiling at a stranger.

The best example of a life I ever witnessed was that of my late husband. He was so warm, and funny, and kind, even when he was fighting his own personal demons. He struck up conversations with strangers everywhere he went: at Home Depot, in the checkout line of the supermarket, in the teller line at the bank... He would stop to help people in need- change their tire or give their battery a jump. He wouldn't give money to beggars but he would buy them food. He taught terribly damaged children, and showed every one of them how they were smart and gifted in their own way. Every day he lived, he made someone's life a little better, a little happier. He was the embodiment of true humility and selfless service. I can't think of a better way to live.

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." -Scott Adams

Thanks for posting this. I'm in that tunnel right now.

Very positive and powerful thoughts to read on what for me has been a really lousy couple of days battling an embodiement of the STATE in the form of the industrial-educational complex.

I won't get into it other than to say, beaurocrats can suck life out of everything.

[shiny!]

Re: Apologies

Thanks for posting this. I'm in that tunnel right now. Very positive and powerful thoughts to read on what for me has been a really lousy couple of days battling an embodiement of the STATE in the form of the industrial-educational complex. I won't get into it other than to say, beaurocrats can suck life out of everything.

So sorry to hear that. I'm having a rough day as well battling the same dehumanizing forces, only for me it's the insanely expensive medical/health insurance system. Some days it just feels like we're hanging on by our fingernails, doesn't it?

I hope you get your stuff worked out.