Wandering Monk
Well-Known Member
Stop feeding the black dog; start feeding the white one.
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How do people stay sane and happy in a world of misery?
- Thread starter an anarchist
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Wherenextcolumbus
Well-Known Member
I don’t have a TV so I only receive news online. Sometimes I have to avoid certain things due to emotional contagion.
I also have a job in which I have to deal with other peoples problems & trauma daily and I had to learn to relinquish control over what other people choose to do.
Another thing that helped was understanding that people have different levels of emotional empathy and some people have none and this is also determined by genetics, so the “evil” things that people do will never be completely eradicated - it will always be; there will always be a tyranny waiting on the sidelines.
Therefore, it’s best to focus on what you can control and accept that dwelling in guilt for having certain privileges doesn’t actually help those who have less
My practice for a while now has been to watch news from a particular source every Sunday night. If I don’t make time for it on Sunday night, then I either listen to it on Monday afternoon at work or wait until the next Sunday night.
There is suffering and misery in the world, yes, and I am mostly desensitized to the knowledge of that. I suspect that many other people are also mostly desensitized to it. On top of being desensitized, I am aware that we are in Kaliyuga, which we are powerless to do away with. Moreover, my goal is to absorbed in Śiva rather than the dualities of life.
Spice
StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
I do my best to stay informed about happenings in the world, and to keep myself aware. I do however limit when and where I get my information and stay alert to "sensationalism."
ie. I feel bad about all elderly people all over the world who struggle with hunger and comfort. But there's one particular organization that advertises regularly on TV that IMO is pure scam, for reasons I'll not get into at this time. Tge ppint is that I recently found out my elderly next door neighbor donates to them regularly--THAT sort of thing is a hard pill for me to swallow.
So, I emphasize "community." As St. Francis said so eloquently: For it is in giving that we receive. -- Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received--only what you have given. Do what you can where you are. Imagine the power if everyone did. But you only control "you."
Namaste
ie. I feel bad about all elderly people all over the world who struggle with hunger and comfort. But there's one particular organization that advertises regularly on TV that IMO is pure scam, for reasons I'll not get into at this time. Tge ppint is that I recently found out my elderly next door neighbor donates to them regularly--THAT sort of thing is a hard pill for me to swallow.
So, I emphasize "community." As St. Francis said so eloquently: For it is in giving that we receive. -- Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received--only what you have given. Do what you can where you are. Imagine the power if everyone did. But you only control "you."
Namaste
Balthazzar
N. Germanic Descent
I don't know.
I honestly don't know.
Man, if I knew ....
cause man, I don't know.
Define sanity? Maybe there's a loophole for us in the definition.
Well, I'm not going to tell you to stop watching the news as I'm a news junkie with multiple news apps on my phone but it's important to balance it with positive things. Like others have said, those things have always existed but now we have the mass media reporting on it from almost every inch of the globe. It's overwhelming and our brains can't handle it. It also contributes to a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness as we obviously cannot do anything about most of it, personally. I get upset about that, too, and it's something that motivates me to become a social worker. So it's good to take breaks and do other things. Look up positive stories. Like if you like animals, the Dodo is excellent for positivity and showing the best side of humanity.
InChrist
Free4ever
All the terrible things happening in this world and the suffering and hardships I see going on in lives of people personally is very disheartening and difficult for me. The only thing that helps me cope is knowing that Jesus will soon return to redeem and restore this broken world.
Heyo
Veteran Member
You won't find many here who are mentally healthy. I know, I'm not.
wellwisher
Well-Known Member
That has to do with what I call emotional thinking. This is where emotions come before reason. Induced emotions are used to justify illogical conclusions, that appear to support the original emotional induction. For example, the Harris campaign for President is all about emotional thinking. It started with fun, hope and rebirth, but since those emotions started to wear out, due to lack of support information, they morphed into dark and terrifying emotions; vision of their world ending. Emotional thinking also allows for lying, since reason becomes secondary, so the facts can remain fuzzy. This has to do with feminization of culture with the political left more feminized and controlling most of the media.
Trump, for the Left, has been associated and conditioned with a hate and fear emotional dog whistle. If I say his name; Beetlejuice, three times, the conditioned feelings appears, on cue. It is funny but tragic. After that, I can say anything, true or false, and that will appear to justify what is being felt due to the dog whistle. This is called the Trump derangement syndrome, but it was more like a CIA mind game. It is like an invisible emotional fence to keep the brain contained.
When I was a child, men and women were like two cultures that met in the middle. The men watched and read the news, which was mostly other males reporters, giving the facts; baseball scores; death toll, storm statistics, etc. News was not yet a female business. News morphed with the rise of feminism and affirmative action. The old way was more boring to the ladies, who seemed to prefer the supermarket tabloids. These were more about gossip and half truths, designed more for emotional appeal. If the popular starlet was getting a divorce or there was a rumor of one, the ladies enjoyed that, since it made their boring life more fun; seed for meme gossip.
Nowadays tabloid is how news is presented; fake news. Men and reason has been cast aside. This is why it hard to watch the news without some emotion induction, usually a darker emotion, since these are the easiest to induce. Also, the dark emotions make more money for all the news programs; advertisers.
If something bad happens, it brings out the rubber necker in people, like those who slowing on the highway to watch the accident aftermath. When they slow down, advertisers have more time to sell soap. If all is well; good news there is no accident, you will drive by and not look left or right. The problem today is even if you are not a rubber necker; more rational, you are nevertheless slowed down by the rubber necker traffic stop. The entire system panders to the emotional thinkers with tabloid reporting, stalling even the rational, who looking are for the facts, but getting gossip opinions that reinforce emotions; CIA invisible fence; government in media.
wellwisher
Well-Known Member
There is logic to this invisible fence induction, based on how the brain writes to memory. When the brain writes new memories, it adds feeling tags to sensory content. Our memory has both sensory content and emotional tagging. This schema allows our memory to use both sides of the brain, with the sensory content more left brain and the emotional tagging more right brained. The left brain is more differential and the right brain is more integral. The left allows us see differential nuance and the right allows us to catalog with similar.
This schema is also useful to the animal brain, in that if a new situation was to trigger a previous memory, and the attached feeling is good or bad, the animal can react to the feeling without thinking. If I see a new food, that look like a food that made me sick, that sick feeling, from the previous memory will make you avoid it. You do not have to use trial and error, until you figure it out rationally. Emotional thinking works this way but this has some pitfalls.
Although our memories are designed to use both sides of the brain, consciously approaching memory, from the left side of the brain or the right side of the brain will give two different analysis for the same memory. The reason this is so is, although there is endless combinations of sensory content; five senses in endless combinations, there are only a smaller finite set of emotions used for all the tags. The emotional tags will get recycled will be apply to a wide range of different sensory content; right brain integration is the area under the emotional curve. For example, if I asked you to name your top ten favorite foods, these will all have a similar good feeling. However, these foods can be as different as soup and steak.
The rational thinker tries to not allow the emotions to lead. They try to stay left brain; Mr Spock. The right brain will often bring up block data; ten favorite foods. The Left brain is better for focusing on each item; differential is slope of the emotional curve at a given point. If the emotional tag is less, then the left brain can break down this block of 10 into 10 individual units, that can each stand alone and have their own history and source of tagging.
The problem with emotional thinking is, one starts with a right brain emotion, and will get a block data effect of unrelated sensory things other than a common emotional tag. For example, if you say the name Trump, this name also brings up other hateful and fearful, but unrelated memories, that are not Trump, such as Hitler. The rational person can analyze each item separate, while the emotional thinker often uses block data, that can amplify the feeling; emotional confusion overlap.
This can work both ways. Your ten favorite foods can each separately make you feel hungry; left brain. The right brain, via the entire block of ten favorite foods can cause that nice feeling to amplify; cook all of them for a party. The invisible fence is more right brain and makes use of unrelated block data to help electrify the zap collar.
Depression is an extreme form of emotional thinking. This can be chemical or caused by emotional fixation. If this case, that one feeling of depression stays turned on. That means the brain's memory tagging process, is giving your new day to day sensory content, as well as your recalled memory, this same negative stamp of depression. These freshly stamped memories become part of a growing block data, that then reinforce the depressed feelings; spiraling loop. Fake news does this on purpose; invisible fence.
I believe we need to treat information like we do our food supply; food for thought. We should still allow freedom of speech, but we can also label speech, like we do food, based on their nutritional or harmful ingredients. With this labelling, the consumer of information can decide and not be brain washed without their consent.
Sometimes, salad gets boring ands it is fun to eat junk food. ButI also want to know if horse meat is being sold as prime beef, so I don't buy the wrong thing and get ripped off. But as long as the butcher labels it horse meat, then let the buyer choose the butchers free speech. Violations will take away press credentials, and make such shady businesses vulnerable to liable suit. Wouldn't it be nice to have places to go that specialize in wholesome and nutritious food for thought and trust it is, but also still be able to find junk food with the triple cheese burger with bacon and liverwurst; properly labeled as not the best diet. While also avoiding shady butchers; fake new, selling tainted meat. Although, if they label it tainted, it may still be a good cheat alternative to feed the dog; properly labeled animal feed free speech.
This schema is also useful to the animal brain, in that if a new situation was to trigger a previous memory, and the attached feeling is good or bad, the animal can react to the feeling without thinking. If I see a new food, that look like a food that made me sick, that sick feeling, from the previous memory will make you avoid it. You do not have to use trial and error, until you figure it out rationally. Emotional thinking works this way but this has some pitfalls.
Although our memories are designed to use both sides of the brain, consciously approaching memory, from the left side of the brain or the right side of the brain will give two different analysis for the same memory. The reason this is so is, although there is endless combinations of sensory content; five senses in endless combinations, there are only a smaller finite set of emotions used for all the tags. The emotional tags will get recycled will be apply to a wide range of different sensory content; right brain integration is the area under the emotional curve. For example, if I asked you to name your top ten favorite foods, these will all have a similar good feeling. However, these foods can be as different as soup and steak.
The rational thinker tries to not allow the emotions to lead. They try to stay left brain; Mr Spock. The right brain will often bring up block data; ten favorite foods. The Left brain is better for focusing on each item; differential is slope of the emotional curve at a given point. If the emotional tag is less, then the left brain can break down this block of 10 into 10 individual units, that can each stand alone and have their own history and source of tagging.
The problem with emotional thinking is, one starts with a right brain emotion, and will get a block data effect of unrelated sensory things other than a common emotional tag. For example, if you say the name Trump, this name also brings up other hateful and fearful, but unrelated memories, that are not Trump, such as Hitler. The rational person can analyze each item separate, while the emotional thinker often uses block data, that can amplify the feeling; emotional confusion overlap.
This can work both ways. Your ten favorite foods can each separately make you feel hungry; left brain. The right brain, via the entire block of ten favorite foods can cause that nice feeling to amplify; cook all of them for a party. The invisible fence is more right brain and makes use of unrelated block data to help electrify the zap collar.
Depression is an extreme form of emotional thinking. This can be chemical or caused by emotional fixation. If this case, that one feeling of depression stays turned on. That means the brain's memory tagging process, is giving your new day to day sensory content, as well as your recalled memory, this same negative stamp of depression. These freshly stamped memories become part of a growing block data, that then reinforce the depressed feelings; spiraling loop. Fake news does this on purpose; invisible fence.
I believe we need to treat information like we do our food supply; food for thought. We should still allow freedom of speech, but we can also label speech, like we do food, based on their nutritional or harmful ingredients. With this labelling, the consumer of information can decide and not be brain washed without their consent.
Sometimes, salad gets boring ands it is fun to eat junk food. ButI also want to know if horse meat is being sold as prime beef, so I don't buy the wrong thing and get ripped off. But as long as the butcher labels it horse meat, then let the buyer choose the butchers free speech. Violations will take away press credentials, and make such shady businesses vulnerable to liable suit. Wouldn't it be nice to have places to go that specialize in wholesome and nutritious food for thought and trust it is, but also still be able to find junk food with the triple cheese burger with bacon and liverwurst; properly labeled as not the best diet. While also avoiding shady butchers; fake new, selling tainted meat. Although, if they label it tainted, it may still be a good cheat alternative to feed the dog; properly labeled animal feed free speech.
Soandso
ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚢᚱᛖ
I just ground myself in history, honestly. These are some of the best times to be alive if we just look at the past and where we've been. Wars are at an all time low. Cures for various disease are being discovered constantly and distribution for medicine is higher than it's ever been and is improving. Lifespans are increasing in tandem with improvements to quality of life
Sure things aren't perfect, but when we compare current events to actual hardship like we've seen in the past then things are pretty damn good right now
Heyo
Veteran Member
I agree in principle. But we also have to look at current trends, and some are downwards, especially in the US. Life expectancy is falling, liberties are eroded, fascists are gaining ground and the Flynn effect has also reversed.
But it is important to see these tendencies in a greater context. We had downward trends in the past, but they were always followed by upwards trends that exceeded all previous highs. It will get better eventually.
Sgt. Pepper
All you need is love.
Sage advice.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
There's nothing we can do about the world. There's often nothing we can do for those in our own communities. And, yes, worrying about so many things isn't good for us. It's destructive and highly damaging for a human. So don't worry about it. They aren't your problems, and nothing you can do about it.
Admittedly, I myself wasn't very good at this until I did social work, and that taught me very quick how to prioritize issues and problems. I can take care of me and those close to me. Otherwise it's just not my problem and not healthy to pick it up like it is.
Good friends also help. Mine have been mostly Juggalos. And I couldn't ask for better friends. Great times, close friendships amd we have each other's backs like we're Masons. And good friends are a big part of what makes life worth living.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
Yeah, I'll take our chemicals and global warming over way higher chance of death from violence, starvation or a simple cut or bug bite. It's far from perfect today, but the very fact we have a concept of first world problems and can easily choose what sort of diet we follow and foods we eat would be the envy of our ancestors. Even instant global communication would be a dream come true to many of them. And we have it all WHILE knowing a certainty we'll see tomorrow that no one before has known. We take it for granted on an assumption we'll see tomorrow while our ancestors lived lives where it was blessing to see tomorrow as they lived much of their lives being reminded tomorrow may not come to them.
From 'Everything Going Great, Bad Faith, Worse News, and Julian Assange' by Edward Snowden.
Every time I hear about misery in the world it's because of the courageous survival and perseverance of those who oppose it.
They don't.
You can't control the world. What you can do is find one small part of it that you care about and have some sort of influence over and devote yourself to that.
That'll be enough to keep you busy for one lifetime.
*Edit: It may not keep you sane but it'll keep you busy.
Reminds me of the Hindu concept of doing one's dharma.You can't control the world. What you can do is find one small part of it that you care about and have some sort of influence over and devote yourself to that.
That'll be enough to keep you busy for one lifetime.
*Edit: It may not keep you sane but it'll keep you busy.