Are you a pessimistic lemming?

Posted: 10/7/05 at 3:31am

I see so many posts on this board that reference cynicism, and I have to wonder, are we really forming our own reaction to our lives, or just succumbing to the overall atmosphere of hopelessness and doubt (just to throw in a Broadway reference)? Just for the record, I would like to state:

I DO believe in love, and I mean it when I say it – no matter the context.

I DO believe in the general goodness of human beings – and one need only ask Mr. Matt about his parents for one example.

I DO believe in the beauty of the world, because I see it every day – no matter where I am or what I’m doing.

I DO believe for every drop of rain that falls . . . oh, nevermind.

As the survivor of a suicide attempt, I have a small suggestion:
If you’re REALLY not enjoying the experience of your daily life, then CHANGE your action. It is a simple law of physics, math and the heart that you get the same result if the input is the same.

Updated On: 10/7/05 at 03:31 AM

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 3:34am

i am cunical, but not a lemming.

Posted: 10/7/05 at 3:37am

I had to go back and make sure that's not how I spelled it

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 3:45am

oh, its 3 am, we're lucky i didn't type clitoris

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:06am

No cynicism here...I'm with you, DGrant.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:21am

Now see D, that's why I love you and want to spend an afternoon in your naked garden chatting with you--with or without the scotch.

Make each and every day a meaningful experience for you and those around you. Have a giggle! Have a cry! But, most of all ... own your life!

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:32am

Now see D, that's why I love you and want to spend an afternoon naked in your garden chatting with you--with scotch.

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:36am

What's with all this chatter?!?!?

Actually, I'd like that very much.

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:44am

I have something to share:

Do not confuse the conditions in your life with the truth about you. Conditions may be influential, but they are not immutable. Conditions can and do change! Circumstances may have an effect, but they are not the deciding factors in your life. Do not allow what is going on around you to determine what comes through you. Do not allow yourself to believe that what happens to you can in any way alter the truth about you.

You are not what happens to you. You are how you handle what happens to you. You are not what is going on around you. You are how you go through all the things going on around you. You are not bound or stopped by any condition or circumstance that may confront you. You are the boundless, unlimited, unstoppable power and energy of who you believe you are.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:49am

Oh hell, just drink lots of Scotch!

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:50am

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:51am

You know, I read these type of things (including my own original 'honey dripping out my butt' post) and I just KNOW there are those who snort at the simplistic nature of it all. No accounting for the very real vagaries of life, or the problems, or the woes, or nature, or the . . . well, the list could go on and on.

BUT, I really do believe that, all things being equal for those with the capacity, having a positive outlook really IS a simple choice. If it's not, then there's some things going on in your own existence that cause you to look for the escape routes of bitterness, apathy, cruelty - and ultimately despair.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:53am

I've always thought cynicism was shabby intellectualism. It's always easy to naysay. It's much harder to appreciate.

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:53am

:: Marquise checks butt to see if honey is dripping out of it ::

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 8:54am

"Well that's a pretty picture I must say." - Gloria Upson

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:02am

It's Friday! And a long weekend for some of us.

Go, Christopher Columbus!

"And darling Glorrrrrrrrriiiiiaaaaaaaa!"

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:05am

"I've always thought cynicism was shabby intellectualism."

That's a pretty fabulously concise realism!

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:11am

DGrant, your post really made me think. I do believe all those things, also... but do I act like it? I know that with my own life, I get so caught up in complaining and hopeless thoughts that I forget to communicate positive things, and people regard me as cranky, cynical and generally unpleasant. Someday I'll learn not to be so wrapped up in my own funk that I forget to smile a bit and remember that the world is, overall, a beautiful place.

Thank you, DGrant, for your post!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:22am

"That's a pretty fabulously concise realism!"

And THAT, my friends, is what I am a fan of: realism.

I think somehow the definition of "cynicism" is often confused with "nihilism," even in some posts on this thread.

And BELIEVE ME, anybody who can sum up their "positive" philosophy of life in the form of a bromide that could be cross stitched on a pillow (and that somehow becomes a recommendation like "all YOU have to do is__________") is guiltier of a much, much, much shabbier intellectualism.

Updated On: 10/7/05 at 09:22 AM

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:31am

All very true, Namo, all very true. But I do think it's possible to think you way into a corner, and not be able to see how easy it is sometimes. Really.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:37am

I completely agree. That's why the real challenge is to be realistic. And to stay realistic when assessing "where you're at" and "where you want to be." (Not sure why I put that last bit in quotes.)

I think maybe in this thread the word cynical might be more accurately replaced with "pessimistic." I once heard somebody somewhere say "the problem with being a pessimist is there's no pay off."

I believe there can be earned cynicism and healthy skepticism. And I also believe that good mental health acknowleges the existence of all of these things, and can live with them and hold them simultaneously. I think a pessimistic attitude is the dead-end, the painted corner, you speak of.

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:41am

I agree - and I hope you don't mind if I change the subject line to reflect that clearer thought.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:46am

Absolutely not. This is what's fun about batting around ideas.

Posted: 10/7/05 at 9:47am

Ya gotta love an edit feature!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 10:28am

I should have said "an easy cynicism" or a "knee-jerk cynicism" is shabby intellectualism.

I take Namo's distinction between cynicism and "earned cynicism."

As Celeste Holm says in All About Eve: "I developed that cynicism the day I discovered I was different from little boys!"

Namo's "earned cynicsm" is healthy skepticism. "Easy cynicism" is the negating of any idea so as to seem more intelligent. That happens a lot in creative industries, when young people with idealistic creative spirits discover that talent and hard work don't always bring success. Bitterness and bitchiness often set in, expressed by an easy knee-jerk, naysaying cynicism.

Now let's discuss the difference between optimism and bromides.