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“I advise you to stop sharing your dreams with people who try to hold you back, even if they're your parents. Because, if you're the kind of person who senses there's something out there for you beyond whatever it is you're expected to do - if you want to be EXTRA-ordinary- you will not get there by hanging around a bunch of people who tell you you're not extraordinary. Instead, you will probably
become as ordinary as they expect you to be.”
#8213; Kelly Cutrone
Must Watch, this will make your day!
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]https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152180736291135&fref=nf
Whalesong,
Speaking of,,,, I'm assuming you put these up with a good heart, but I would like to hear your VERY OWN comments and perspectives on all these things you cut and paste day to day. I opine you would gain more 'street cred' for your 'causes' by doing so with the readership here.
aloha,
pog
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This is why I don't read Facebook
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Some one will always be there to tell you how ordinary you are, no matter how extraordinary you become. Just the universe's way of testing your belief in your extraordinary nature. The truly extraordinary often suffer lifetimes of ridicule, suppression, imprisonment, torture etc. It is the relentless belief in their cause/purpose and their belief in themselves that makes them extraordinary IMO. No it's not fun to be around negative people,but you can't avoid them altogether. You might be related to them etc. I'm not sure where it's from old Gaelic quote translated maybe. (Don't let the bastards get you down) sums it up pretty good for me.
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there is also the flipside, fishenjim. a relentless belief in oneself or a cause can lead to megalomania, narcissism, fanaticism.
i firmly believe the ego and self esteem function best in a balanced self perspective, steering clear of overcompensation either way. too often an actual lack of self esteem becomes expressed as a zealous overconfidence or boastful pride.
agree, best not to be held back by undo negative influences. but sometimes a well-meaning reality check to keep our feet on the ground is good too. gets tricky there in the middle.
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reason I am reminded of the letter a buddy of mine got from his brother. This is going back a ways. It was from Viet Nam. His brother was a Marine there. It said, "Whatever you do don't come over here!!".
I've read these words B4,
aloha,
pog
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I agree with PunaMauka2. Our culture is too fixated on "positive thinking", to the point that humility gets lost in all the bs. It has been packaged and sold to us by the Happiness Industry", as the only path to self-fulfillment and success. And yet there's evidence that points to the contrary. Here's a great quote from Oliver Burkeman (from "The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking."
"...the effort to try to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable. And that it is our constant efforts to eliminate the negative--insecurity, uncertainty, failure, or sadness--that is what causes us to feel so insecure, anxious, uncertain, or unhappy...in order to be truly happy, we might actually need to be willing to experience more negative emotions--or, at the very least, to learn to stop running quite so hard from them."
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
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that quote nicely fits the ticket, Punafish. right along the lines of what i was thinking. sounds like a book i might enjoy reading.
i suppose one could easily associate this train of thought with yin & yang, if we may separate it for a moment from the more cliche popular culture brands of the term.
("concepts used to describe how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.")
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"happiness industry", ah-ha! no doubt there is a fair amount of that going on out there. we naturally are drawn to clear and simple absolute fixes to murky problems and challenges.
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i like to challenge my own ideas and consider exceptions. one exception i can think of may be someone who has been psychologically abused or ridiculed to an extreme. i would not rule out that a period of retreat into tipping the balance beyond the usual towards positivity for a time could be beneficial.