I have learned to read the papers calmly and not to hate the fools I read about.
—Edmund Wilson
This quote tickles me, probably because when I was teaching stress management years ago, I would read the papers in the morning to test how well I was doing. It’s still good practice.
I’ve always been interested in history, so I don’t want to hide and miss seeing it in action, but I agree with Mary Oliver:
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happened better than all the riches or power in the world….
Since my teen years I’ve thought of happiness and joy as a way of being defiant, fighting back against all the soul-sucking parts of life. It beats feeling helpless and angry or depressed.
January 28, 2020
wow. yes. truer words never spoken.
taking personal responsibility for our feelings and emotions!
I have been doing my own little ritual just before falling asleep at night.
in a way I guess it’s like meditation. but it’s helping me a lot. and better than playing ostrich as you say!
I calm my breathing and clear my thoughts. then I think of only these words over and over until I fall asleep: kindness. love. forgiveness. understanding.
I repeat them in my head until I’m asleep .. which has been very soon lately!
tonight I think I shall add … good health and wellness.
That’s great! And doing it before bed is the best time to do it to get it down into our subconscious, and to sleep well.
A lot of us could do with some of that happiness and joy right now. I’m only sorry that so many of us have to work at achieving it while living through a turning point in our history.
A lot more people have a better chance to achieve it than in any previous time. Fingers crossed that trend continues.
I grab joy with both hands and hang on tight any time it appears!
Yes, it is to be treasured!
Years ago I read a quote that I find to be so very true “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be”. It took me a lot of years to realize that being happy and finding joy in life really was my choice. On most days I choose joy.
That quote is usually accredited to Abraham Lincoln, and I read a book yeas ago by a psychologist who decided to understand happy people. His conclusion was the ones he studied didn’t always have the easiest lives, but they all valued happiness. It was a big priority so they focused on it.
it depends, reading your post and I’m thinking about how much is joy, hard slog, or plain nothing about life.
I look out my front windows and think “why can’t the landlords work with the neighbours” to fix the fence. Of course both our neighbours directly adjacent to our units have probably a metre to the back wall of their homes, not even room for kids to play, so I doubt they see the fence run as a priority.
Then I think “does it truly matter” 🙂
It’s not about the fence, why I live here…inside “I’m more than happy with my art life”
Yes, having a purpose in life and being clear about it means we don’t fret about a lot of things, especially ones we have no control over.
I may have fixed the problem with comment notifications. Please let me know if you get this. Fingers crossed.
yes “received the email regarding fixing the glitch with comments to me…” sorry it took so long to reply, having a big day – starting another big sort up of life at home, in particular to do with art supplies, but anything that comes up under a sperate radar goes to the sorting table…
Good for you for reorganizing. That’s a BIG job!
I agree, feeling helpless or angry or depressed isn’t beneficial, though some people feel that way regardless of their best intentions. I imagine refugees fleeing some bloody conflict and desperately seeking somewhere peaceful have good reason to feel helpless and depressed.
“I imagine refugees fleeing some bloody conflict and desperately seeking somewhere peaceful have good reason to feel helpless and depressed.“
??? Of course, that’s what this post is about. The world is full of examples like that. That’s why experiencing joy when we can is fighting back.