Earlier this evening I was reading something about what the proponents of a war on Iran are up to, and the anger flowed from my head to my gut in record time. During my absence over the past two weeks, where I didn't surf the web, never caught the news, and only looked at email twice in a ten day period, I didn't feel this way at all. And it was hard to get back into the "swing of things" on Wednesday when I wrote my latest column.
The thing is, I don't want to be pessimistic. I don't want to be angry. The anger is quite reasonable; it is by no means fair that the anti-war, pro-Bill of Rights position is dismissed as "wacko" and "extremist." But I'm tired of being frustrated. This battle's been going on in my mind for some six months at least. I want to write inspiring things, or at least be inspired myself, but the daily news always seems to pop that balloon.
I'm not going to make any resolutions here, like "From now on I will just think happy thoughts and post happy posts." But that should at least be a worthwhile goal. It's something I tried briefly six months ago and I should get back to it. For - and this has been my dilemma - I've been thinking that by dwelling on the negative, I'm doing nothing but adding to the negative forces in the world, to a "collective unconscious" that anticipates war, poverty, disease, and tyranny.
One way to express the feeling I have is, if we expect the worst, we might not get the worst, but we'll still get something pretty bad. But if we expect the best, our mental and spiritual energy will be directed toward constructive, loving action. We may not get the "best" according to the precise expectations which we started with, but as individual souls, we'd be a lot happier. I hope to do a better job of focusing on the good and beautiful, and in expressing gratitude for the wonders of the universe and my own good fortune.
James Leroy Wilson's one-man magazine.
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Keep your chin up, bud... Keep fighting for liberty and we'll get it someday...I'm sure!
ReplyDeleteWhen I get depressed or pessimistic, I always go read/watch some old Harry Browne speeches. That always tends to lift me up.
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ReplyDeleteyou can also pop in the movie pay it forward and pretend they use the real ending.
I can sympathize wholeheartedly with you here. It is hard to keep the positive energy flowing, but I believe like you that the net result of positive thinking will be a better world to live in.
ReplyDeleteI think I understand, at least somewhat. For me the answer has been to keep a wary eye on the state, but to offset that negative energy with all the good things going on in my life. I don't always succeed, but trying certainly helps skew the balance toward the positive.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to be much help here, as I would have to quote an insincere cliche. But does the concept of "division of labor" apply to attitude and outlook as well? Is hatred of evil positive?
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