Raheem sacrificed his life to destroy the “Wall of Fame.”
It worked.
Was it worth it?
Related: “Do the Right Thing,” part 2
Reblogged 2023-05-04.
Tag Archives: Choosing feelings
* “World’s happiest man” shares his secret
A 69-year-old monk who scientists call the ‘world’s happiest man’ says the secret to being happy takes just 15 minutes per day
Another must-read.
This is actually a different approach to meditation than any I have ever used. I may try it.
Enigmatically, happiness is no laughing matter. Last week’s article suggested that your happiness is a key to success in life. It is central to one’s functionality, the ability to get things done, overcome obstacles, set wise goals and diligently pursue them. Whether you believe in heaven or hell, wish to serve merely yourself, or instead wish to “serve” God, serve Jesus, or serve humanity — it’s essential to optimize your functionality, your effectiveness in life.
Fortunately, apparently, that can be fun!
* “A Stanford scientist says a simple psychological shift can make you more successful”
A Stanford scientist says a simple psychological shift can make you more successful
The headline left me skeptical. A scientist tells about success?
The article proves to be all about self-love, and backs up everything I’ve said about that subject. It also speaks to the issues I face at this moment in dealing with my feelings and the way I treat myself.
I urge you to read it.
Related:
Chaos overwhelms the poor
A short route to agony
Life in the outer darkness
Self-comfort
Why racism no longer matters to me
* In the forecast: Pain
(Reblogged 2023-02-23.)
A toothache can distract you completely.
For the past two months, I have now and then, with increasing frequency and duration, had mild toothaches in (I thought) one upper left tooth and one lower left tooth. They always went away; and that’s all I thought of it.
Then last Thursday night there was such severe pain for such a long time, that I lost several hours’ sleep and resolved to get those two teeth filled the next day. But that didn’t happen. The dentist said four teeth must be extracted; and the appointments the clinic scheduled for me are two weeks and four weeks away.
This means: for the coming month, I am going to be in pain of varying severity for varying lengths of time.
It may not be much, now and then; it may be a lot, now and then, and for quite a while now and then. But it’s unavoidable. It’s coming.
How will I choose to feel about it?
Will I accept it, or react continually against it?
Will I hate myself for being in pain? or possibly hate others? Hate God?
Will I be crying out, “Why me?”
Or may there be other options?
Related: A short route to agony
From my diary:
* Self-comfort
I have suffered with obsessive-compulsive disorder and genetically-based clinical depression all my life. I first became medicated for these conditions, with SSRIs, in 1991, and the improvement was so drastic I never wanted to be without those medications again.
On or about December 6, 2015, however, it seemed as if they abruptly became ineffective. I was not in a position to find a medical doctor competent to change them. So, on the one hand, I’ve lived with clinical depression from then till now and continuing. On the other hand, a positive is that in this state I’ve obtained certain insights that I never could have “seen” any other way.
One insight in particular would have changed my entire course in life, had I only learned it as a child.
It occurred in four steps. The blue block quotes below are excerpts from my diary. However, I recall that C.S. Lewis referred to diary-keeping as a “time-wasting and foolish practice;” that a diary is, “even for autobiographical purposes,” far less useful than one might suppose. As to the first two steps below, I lost a good deal of time and effort searching for diary passages that didn’t exist.
In mid-December 2015 …
* The best present makes the best future.
Saturday 2015-12-05
14:40. Actually, Leo arrived first.
But he got turned away.
* Self-management in the face of depression
I am extremely depressed this morning. This may be a “monthly.” I find myself hyper-self-critical; ready to take anything someone may say the wrong way; ready to snap.
I’m dealing with various issues in various places that may help explain it, but as opposed to engaging in excuses or blame, I need to deal with what is.
I was in Dunkin’ Donuts at 9:00 and chose to check the library schedule for this week; to chart out what days I would go to the library and what other days I would go to church.
Continue reading * Self-management in the face of depression
* “Seeing red” is real. But how does it happen?
The scientific reason your world brightens up when you do
This study affirms some common observations about color perceptions and emotional states. When one is enraged, the color red appears more vivid in one’s perceptions; when depressed, the color blue. When one feels elated, all colors appear brighter, and in times of severe depression color perception can all but disappear; the world looks black and white. Or, perhaps, bleak and white.
The study attempts, and IMO fails, to attribute these things to the activity of neurotransmitters such as dopamine. But there is no finding of direct action by such neurotransmitters on the color-perceiving apparatus of the visual cortex.
Continue reading * “Seeing red” is real. But how does it happen?
o Unwelcome news at the shelter
Friday 2015-11-13
I will soon have to find somewhere else to stay at night.
And eat, shower, and get clean clothes.
* Bootstraps
Psalm 150:6: “Let all things that have breath praise the Lord.”
At the homeless shelter where I stay, we’re required to attend chapel every night. Monday, for the first time in months, Jervis Ray preached. His text was Psalm 23. However, he was soon enough back to his same old same old, haranguing us that we’re not grateful enough for our “blessings.” “God woke you up in your right mind,” with the use of two arms and two legs.
He calls us to praise God that our bootstraps aren’t like others’. “There are lots of people in hospitals who don’t know where they are.”
That stung me, as my oldest brother will be soon enough in just that state.
The Homeless Blogger 