Random Rants 61

[Phrossack]

I've largely given up hope that things will get better for me. And I can probably list on one or two hands all the things that I still enjoy.

I still have my principles, at least, but that's scant comfort.

 

[Hygro]

Maybe your principles suck and your body is telling you that

 

[Phrossack]

Maybe your principles suck and your body is telling you that

How can principles and values be considered bad except by comparing them to your own? So how can a person possibly consider their own values bad?

 

[Hygro]

Great questions. Let's ask the same but in flipping the tone: How can principles and values be considered good? How can one celebrate their principles?

 

[Borachio]

Could one measure them by how much they promote one's well-being? Long-term and spiritual well-being, that is. And including the well-being of one's global surroundings, too.

 

[Snerk]

Rant: It's december and there's hardly any snow. What the hell, Arctic!? What a rip-off..

 

[warpus]

Turns out I have an uncanny knack for alienating myself from people without realising how or why it happened, it's only a matter of how long it takes before it happens.

That tends to happen to me from time to time when I generally just stand up for myself and don't take any crap. At the end of the year all the people who you didn't really want as friends are gone, and your true friends are left.

Then again maybe you just have bad BO. (You probably don't). I know people like that who are oblivious to it. Or bad breath.. ... there is one person in particular I avoid just for that reason alone. Interacting with him is never a fun time. And he's politically ranked higher than me at work, so I don't say anything. Figure it out dude

 

[Lohrenswald]

How can principles and values be considered bad except by comparing them to your own? So how can a person possibly consider their own values bad?

I think most people change their principles at least once, so it's evidently possible, I guess

 

[Commodore]

Rant: It's december and there's hardly any snow. What the hell, Arctic!? What a rip-off..

I second this. Because of this mild November and December so far, it is just rainy and miserable where I am.

 

[Snerk]

Were are you Commodore?

 

[azzaman333]

That tends to happen to me from time to time when I generally just stand up for myself and don't take any crap. At the end of the year all the people who you didn't really want as friends are gone, and your true friends are left.

Then again maybe you just have bad BO. (You probably don't). I know people like that who are oblivious to it. Or bad breath.. ... there is one person in particular I avoid just for that reason alone. Interacting with him is never a fun time. And he's politically ranked higher than me at work, so I don't say anything. Figure it out dude

There's almost never a moment that causes it, rather it seems to fade away slowly over time. I'd quite like to figure out what it is that I'm doing to consistently have these problems so I can at least try to stop it happening in the future though.

You guys have the same post count from the same city, do you hang out?

We did one time.

 

[JohannaK]

Oh man, today I was at the library and a woman sat in fornt of me. The tables are these sturdy, old-fashioned wooden furniture which must be at least 1m wide, and I could smell her stinking breath. It reeked of nicotine and had a faint backdrop of peppermint. I could hear her chew the gum trying to cover it up.

 

[Phrossack]

Great questions. Let's ask the same but in flipping the tone: How can principles and values be considered good? How can one celebrate their principles?

Values are what we use to decide whether something is good or bad. I can't think of anything more basic, anything we could use to decide that the value itself is bad, unless it directly conflicts with other values we hold.

 

[Hygro]

Values are what we use to decide whether something is good or bad. I can't think of anything more basic, anything we could use to decide that the value itself is bad, unless it directly conflicts with other values we hold.

That's whatam sayin!

and how might such a conflict be experienced? (thanks for playing along)

 

[Commodore]

Were are you Commodore?

Ohio.

 

[gay_Aleks]

It does match well Bulgaria, as well, I suppose. Misty, rainy and windy. Miserable. Eh.

 

[Phrossack]

That's whatam sayin!

and how might such a conflict be experienced? (thanks for playing along)

Cognitive dissonance, generally. Imagine Person A, who values the well-being of people generally, but also values feeling good about themselves and has a sense of self-esteem that's inextricably linked to the image of their country. Then imagine that Person B points to a situation in which their country is doing things that harm the well-being of people. Person A, faced with this clash of values, may pick well-being of others over personal happiness and acknowledge and criticize the policies of their country that hurt others. Or they may favor their own happiness over others' well-being, get defensive, and insist that their country did nothing wrong and whatever it did was justified.

Likewise, two of my values are happiness and honesty in every way, especially being sober about things and acknowledging uncomfortable facts. They often get in the way of another, so I tend to side with the latter, because I despise cognitive dissonance. But, you see, I can't just abandon my values of honesty and sober thinking just because they can get in the way of happiness. I can't simply decide to ignore uncomfortable truths with the flip of the switch, and I would feel dirty if I did, which would also make me unhappy. Either way, I'm going to be unhappy.

But in any case, most of my unhappiness doesn't come from a conflict of values. It comes from a bunch of other things. So you're being hasty to claim that my values are inherently bad.

 

[Hygro]

It came to mind, but I can't make any actual claim. I'm not you! I do know that if my actions, my narrative expressed logical thinking-brain values don't match my body's values, depression follows. Either my body changes or my thinking does, or I remain depressed. Depression is like the brakes, it allows me to take turns.

 

[jackelgull]

I've largely given up hope that things will get better for me. And I can probably list on one or two hands all the things that I still enjoy.

I still have my principles, at least, but that's scant comfort.

I'm no guru, but perhaps your principles may not be helping you extract all the value there is to be had from life.

It came to mind, but I can't make any actual claim. I'm not you! I do know that if my actions, my narrative expressed logical thinking-brain values don't match my body's values, depression follows. Either my body changes or my thinking does, or I remain depressed. Depression is like the brakes, it allows me to take turns.

Something similar happened to me once, when I had a brief flirtation with nihilism. I wouldn't say it was as bad as depression, but I certainly had less energy than normal and was more moody. I got over that pretty quickly when I realized that just because my brain came to that conclusion doesn't mean my emotions had. In short there was a dissonance between my emotional logic and my rational logic. Not sure if I'm explaining it right.

 

[Commodore]

I just spent the past five hours or so trolling conspiracy theorist nutjobs on YouTube. I now feel like I'm wasting my life.