Thank you! Yes, I am. I’ve grown bored of suffering, and the victim mentality has lost its appeal. At this point, even being negative is difficult for me. I’d have to put effort into taking myself seriously.
But it’s a balance. Being humble and allowing oneself to be small is also important as it increases the felt weight of the world. So I should allow myself to be “just human”, i.e. a little weak. If I don’t allow myself to be weak I won’t be able to cry, and I won’t be able to feel other peoples sympathy since I can’t take it to heart. This is similar to being unable to feel other peoples compliments, which is the case when the standards you hold youself to are too high. Many people recommend stoicism or “not giving a fuck” to combat depression, I just want to warn against that. It’s better to have courage (the ability to face ones fears) than it is to get rid of the fear. If “fear > courage” one should flip the inequality instead of destroying the entire equation by reducing both sides to 0 (nihilism).
The correct alchemy here is “negative → positive” not “negative → nothingness”. Reducing yourself to rubble leaves a lot of rebuilding work (nihilism → meaning)
Speaking of which, I have a friend who doesn’t get embarrassed, she gets angry instead. I think there’s a layer of responses. If she had not allowed herself to be angry, she’d go to the next layer, which is apathy. So the ordering goes from “receptive” to “jaded”. Somebody does something which hurts you → Brain protects you from pain, it’s converted to sadness. → The brain protects you from sadness, so it’s converted to anger. → The brain protects you from anger, so it’s converted to apathy. This picture seems quite right: https://oasisenergyhealingcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Emotional-Energy-Compass-Graphic.jpg
I guess I cope well with my issues because they tie into my hobbies so well. I’m not motivated by the idea that I will stop suffering once I improve my life, but experimenting on myself is fun, and this actually motivates me.
It’s not the bad things in life which get to you, it’s the lack of good things :) ”He who has a why can bear almost any how”. As long as good things are working out for me, I don’t think it matters very much whether I’m suffering as well. But society doesn’t think like this, so it keeps trying to reduce negative things, which also reduce good things. So the mental health of society keeps getting worse despite “things getting better”
Thank you! Yes, I am. I’ve grown bored of suffering, and the victim mentality has lost its appeal. At this point, even being negative is difficult for me. I’d have to put effort into taking myself seriously.
But it’s a balance. Being humble and allowing oneself to be small is also important as it increases the felt weight of the world. So I should allow myself to be “just human”, i.e. a little weak. If I don’t allow myself to be weak I won’t be able to cry, and I won’t be able to feel other peoples sympathy since I can’t take it to heart. This is similar to being unable to feel other peoples compliments, which is the case when the standards you hold youself to are too high. Many people recommend stoicism or “not giving a fuck” to combat depression, I just want to warn against that. It’s better to have courage (the ability to face ones fears) than it is to get rid of the fear. If “fear > courage” one should flip the inequality instead of destroying the entire equation by reducing both sides to 0 (nihilism).
The correct alchemy here is “negative → positive” not “negative → nothingness”. Reducing yourself to rubble leaves a lot of rebuilding work (nihilism → meaning)
Speaking of which, I have a friend who doesn’t get embarrassed, she gets angry instead. I think there’s a layer of responses. If she had not allowed herself to be angry, she’d go to the next layer, which is apathy. So the ordering goes from “receptive” to “jaded”.
Somebody does something which hurts you → Brain protects you from pain, it’s converted to sadness. → The brain protects you from sadness, so it’s converted to anger. → The brain protects you from anger, so it’s converted to apathy. This picture seems quite right: https://oasisenergyhealingcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Emotional-Energy-Compass-Graphic.jpg
I guess I cope well with my issues because they tie into my hobbies so well. I’m not motivated by the idea that I will stop suffering once I improve my life, but experimenting on myself is fun, and this actually motivates me.
It’s not the bad things in life which get to you, it’s the lack of good things :)
”He who has a why can bear almost any how”. As long as good things are working out for me, I don’t think it matters very much whether I’m suffering as well. But society doesn’t think like this, so it keeps trying to reduce negative things, which also reduce good things. So the mental health of society keeps getting worse despite “things getting better”