Positive thinking

[goDel]

It's great to hear that people here are doing things that are positive (even simple things like changing the ay you think etc)

 

 

I have actually started this as I have been doing something called hypnobirthing which is basically about undoing all the negative connotations we have surrounding birth (thanks religions!) So my hypnosis/affirmations things have been about birthing mainly. However, I do also have to change the way I see myself (I always used to put myself down etc) and I have noticed I've sort of 'reprogrammed' my thinking into being more positive about my self and situations.

 

...

 

Congrats with the new Paradinas on the way! And good luck with the morning sickness! This wasn't the first one, right?

 

I believe that I'm not my body. My body confines me, imposes limitations, and is the source of endless frustration. This is probably why I'm pissed off all the time. I do not have a good mind/body harmony.

 

See, that's one of the problems with having huge manly balls. It totally throws your yin-yang off balance. I can relate to that. Power to you, and try not to faint next time you climax. My mom asked me to tell you, btw. She says "hi" as well. For whatever reason.

[OneToThirtySix]

I had an STD/HIV screening last week, so I've been deliberately thinking negative.

[rixxx]

lol.

 

 

 

 

It's my first but there are two paradinases? paradini? not sure but he has two boys, this one is a girl.

[goDel]

Princess Paradinas. I guess the name is going to be an easy one! :D

[Fred McGriff]

congrats. *queues up "thank heaven for little girls" by gerard depardieu*

[Atop]

US East Coasters don't trust sunny dispositionites either. A simple example would be to ask someone on the east coast, "how are you." and they will mutter "I'm ok" whereas in the south if you said something other than "I'm good" or "I'm great" it would be cause for concern, so if you were just merely ok you'd have to deal with a follow up question asking what's wrong.

 

*smiles for atop*

 

Yeah, the yankees up north hate the Texan cordiality. My ex, that you got to meet Fred, was told by a New Yorker that she needed to be more rude. This has always been confusing to me. To be expected to be an asshole seems like it would not be that great for society. They are still running things up there so, good for the rude yanks.

 

no! i'm a midwesterner! so everyone around me is sunny but they still think i'm being fake when i try. which i guess is fair enough because trying is hard.

 

This sounds like you need to practice smiling more often. SMILE DAMNIT! SMILE GOOD!

 

congrats. *queues up "thank heaven for little girls" by gerard depardieu*

 

smiles for reals with a bit of laughter.....

 

 

 

and congrats and good luck Rixx, may she come out smoothly and your morning sickness vanish at some point.

[rixxx]

your happy disposition is unsettling.

[Atop]

[awepittance]

 

 

As to the news, i agree with AdieuErsatzEnnui. It's the lying about what's going on that depresses me more than what's actually happening.

 

ding ding, I think that a great deal people who have a moderate level of intelligence and empathy try to ignore or even rationalize all the negative and bad in the world instead of just accepting it for what it is. It's easy for people with empathy and compassion to be 'dragged' down by negativity, but i think that's a losing battle. You have to at least at some point in life learn to cope with the idea that suffering is everywhere and evil shit happens all the time while maintaining sanity. And in our private chats you've talked about people who deny reality in order to cope, i would agree that the people who do that are actually in some ways are adding more to the overall suffering of the human race. It's time to man up

[delet...]

 

I am not even close to the buddha, so what I say should be not held as a representant of the buddha word lol. I am still suffering and still in ignorance.

I do however really beleive in some of the buddhist notions.I sound like a fondamentalist retard because I do not control well english lol.

 

Your English is pretty damn good, stop being so negative!

 

 

heheheheh ...

[delet...]

no! i'm a midwesterner! so everyone around me is sunny but they still think i'm being fake when i try. which i guess is fair enough because trying is hard.

 

 

haha .. now you put it that way, i can just imagine you in positive mode to your friends. "Oh, that's just great" .. "I'm so happy for you" ... "etc" ..

[LimpyLoo]

 

 

I am not even close to the buddha, so what I say should be not held as a representant of the buddha word lol. I am still suffering and still in ignorance.

I do however really beleive in some of the buddhist notions.I sound like a fondamentalist retard because I do not control well english lol.

 

Your English is pretty damn good, stop being so negative!

 

 

heheheheh ...

 

yeah murphy you're golden, dawg

 

you just scared me there for a second

 

by making Buddhism look like some twisted life-coaching cult

[delet...]

 

I believe that I'm not my body. My body confines me, imposes limitations, and is the source of endless frustration. This is probably why I'm pissed off all the time. I do not have a good mind/body harmony.

 

See, that's one of the problems with having huge manly balls. It totally throws your yin-yang off balance. I can relate to that. Power to you, and try not to faint next time you climax. My mom asked me to tell you, btw. She says "hi" as well. For whatever reason.

 

 

Votes for fred to be likeliest to be one of the early adopters of the new super cyborg enhancements.

 

[photoshop of fred's avatar on mecha or something]

[ambermonk]

Sunny disposition...isn't that basically a naive sense of optimism?

I don't think I fall under that category, but not under constant pessimism either. Probably an adaptive realist at best.

[Guest murphythecat8]

 

 

 

I am not even close to the buddha, so what I say should be not held as a representant of the buddha word lol. I am still suffering and still in ignorance.

I do however really beleive in some of the buddhist notions.I sound like a fondamentalist retard because I do not control well english lol.

 

Your English is pretty damn good, stop being so negative!

 

 

heheheheh ...

 

yeah murphy you're golden, dawg

 

you just scared me there for a second

 

by making Buddhism look like some twisted life-coaching cult

lol, every post I will make here, you have to comment!

 

but yeah, as long as you suffer, you are not buddha. we all have the potential to be buddha, but as long as we suffer....

[Guest murphythecat8]

 

 

 

i'm ok with all of the above but i still can't get with this...

 

Its YOUR fault if you suffer, never the fault of the other.

 

This is one of those ideas that you can't really understand until you effect a radical perspective shift. I'm not a Buddhist but I spend a lot of time trying to integrate ideas that Buddhism touches upon. I actually don't think the word 'fault' is helpful because that implies judgement of the self, which isn't productive.

 

If you approach the idea from a standard materialist standpoint then yes, obviously the statement is fairly monstrous.

 

But if you held beliefs such as:

 

- The binary of good/bad is a learned construct and in actuality all situations are neutral until we impose meaning on them.

- all human life (and all plains of existence, everywhere) is in actuality a temporary extension of an infinite non-physical consciousness for the purposes of expansion, growth and experience.

- there is no death, only the transition of consciousness from one focus of experience to another.

 

... then it sounds a lot less shady. The general idea being that a highly-conscious person would not judge a circumstance or experience as inherently negative, given that all reality is ultimately for the purpose of experience and growth and all consciousness is ultimately of the same source.

 

But yeah, that kind of perspective shift can be a little bit tricky (but not impossible) to integrate into everyday life.

 

Wow, nobody is clarifying that statement at all.

 

 

I think the point Murphy was trying to make (but completely botched and made Buddhism sound like it likes to blame victims :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: ) is that we have some measure of control over our own suffering.

 

 

 

This idea is at the very heart of Buddhism. It does not mean that when someone hurts us, the suffering is our own fault. It means that once a person has hurt us, we then have some measure of control over how much we suffer.

This is not my opinion! I mean, im not the one who says that. but yeah, primarly, we are the cause of our own suffering.

If you suffer, it is your fault, or use any other word that please the ear. :)

I dont know how to say that differently, but seriously, your post is a bit false, according to the buddha. not its not fault, its just incomplete.

yes you have some control on your feelings, that I agree. and the buddha would say that you have complete control over your feelings. complete, all, everything is created by you. all you feeling are dependant of your senses right, therefore, your mood, your emotions, your sensation towards things in life depends only on you. but seriously, as soon as we go into details, we loose something, or its not totally adequate.

its a quite radical view of the world, I admit. But for me, it all make sense.

[goDel]

 

 

I believe that I'm not my body. My body confines me, imposes limitations, and is the source of endless frustration. This is probably why I'm pissed off all the time. I do not have a good mind/body harmony.

See, that's one of the problems with having huge manly balls. It totally throws your yin-yang off balance. I can relate to that. Power to you, and try not to faint next time you climax. My mom asked me to tell you, btw. She says "hi" as well. For whatever reason.

Votes for fred to be likeliest to be one of the early adopters of the new super cyborg enhancements. [photoshop of fred's avatar on mecha or something]

That's a new paintbrush art thread! ...Although, it wouldn't surprise me if we had multiple hairy ball sacks paintbrush thread in the past.

[dr lopez]

I feel like I'm a fairly healthy mix of relentless positivity and narcissism and soul-shattering despondent negativity and narcissism.

 

Some days I wake up, feel great, look at myself in the mirror check out my six pack, think I'm hot shit, walk out the door ready to fuck the day up with my smiles and laughter and how awesome I am. I usually have a fucking great day. It's so amazing how much people respond to positivity. Sometimes I get a nice blowjob at the end of it.

 

Often the next day I wake up and stare at my ugly flabby chest and no chin, hate myself, take a messy, longwinded shit, then crawl into bed, protected by the flimsy armor of self-importance - of how no one understands my genius, my art, my music taste. If only they understood, then I would be happy!! Then a shitty and unfulfilling jack off session.

 

It comes and goes.

 

maybe I'm just narcissistic lol, but I'm in my 20s right? I'm supposed to be invincible. Christ I don't wanna live the day when I realize that's so far from reality. Let's hope I still have some time.

/rant

 

 

but honestly I've been treating life for the past year like an improv skit. NEVER SAY NO. Always say yes, even if at first you think it's a shitty idea. Produces some unexpected results but tbh I don't really regret very many of them.

[LimpyLoo]

 

 

 

 

i'm ok with all of the above but i still can't get with this...

 

Its YOUR fault if you suffer, never the fault of the other.

 

This is one of those ideas that you can't really understand until you effect a radical perspective shift. I'm not a Buddhist but I spend a lot of time trying to integrate ideas that Buddhism touches upon. I actually don't think the word 'fault' is helpful because that implies judgement of the self, which isn't productive.

 

If you approach the idea from a standard materialist standpoint then yes, obviously the statement is fairly monstrous.

 

But if you held beliefs such as:

 

- The binary of good/bad is a learned construct and in actuality all situations are neutral until we impose meaning on them.

- all human life (and all plains of existence, everywhere) is in actuality a temporary extension of an infinite non-physical consciousness for the purposes of expansion, growth and experience.

- there is no death, only the transition of consciousness from one focus of experience to another.

 

... then it sounds a lot less shady. The general idea being that a highly-conscious person would not judge a circumstance or experience as inherently negative, given that all reality is ultimately for the purpose of experience and growth and all consciousness is ultimately of the same source.

 

But yeah, that kind of perspective shift can be a little bit tricky (but not impossible) to integrate into everyday life.

 

Wow, nobody is clarifying that statement at all.

 

 

I think the point Murphy was trying to make (but completely botched and made Buddhism sound like it likes to blame victims :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: ) is that we have some measure of control over our own suffering.

 

 

 

This idea is at the very heart of Buddhism. It does not mean that when someone hurts us, the suffering is our own fault. It means that once a person has hurt us, we then have some measure of control over how much we suffer.

This is not my opinion! I mean, im not the one who says that. but yeah, primarly, we are the cause of our own suffering.

If you suffer, it is your fault, or use any other word that please the ear. :)

I dont know how to say that differently, but seriously, your post is a bit false, according to the buddha. not its not fault, its just incomplete.

yes you have some control on your feelings, that I agree. and the buddha would say that you have complete control over your feelings. complete, all, everything is created by you. all you feeling are dependant of your senses right, therefore, your mood, your emotions, your sensation towards things in life depends only on you. but seriously, as soon as we go into details, we loose something, or its not totally adequate.

its a quite radical view of the world, I admit. But for me, it all make sense.

 

You are talking about the Buddhist ideal of a person completely ridding oneself of desire (and thus suffering). I think that is what "nirvana" refers to. However, I think humans can only get glimpses of it. Hell, even the Dalai Lama even admits to getting angry and feeling other such forms of suffering.

 

 

You seem like a cool dude but I think you are making lofty pretenses that have no real meaning outside of academia.

[syd syside]

I like anxiety and doubt.

 

Need that shit to create stuff. Like watching a great film or listening to great music makes me feel inadequate by comparison but it also in the end drives me to try harder.

 

“The search for Nirvana, like the search for Utopia or the end of history or the classless society, is ultimately a futile and dangerous one. It involves, if it does not necessitate, the sleep of reason. There is no escape from anxiety and struggle.”

[lumpenprol]

nice post, dr.

 

I'm a naturally negative/depressive/pessimistic person, but my wife is the opposite. The main way I would categorize an upbeat disposition is the ability to truly laugh things off. One of the first ways I realized I loved my wife is if I said something negative towards her, something that could even be seen as insulting, and she would just laugh it off. It's a great defuser in our relationship. With anyone else, they'd probably go "why the hell would you say something like that to me?" or "oh yeah? Well you're ___ and ___". But she just laughs and moves on, and I love her for that.

[vamos scorcho]

forget it

[LimpyLoo]

nice post, dr.

 

I'm a naturally negative/depressive/pessimistic person, but my wife is the opposite. The main way I would categorize an upbeat disposition is the ability to truly laugh things off. One of the first ways I realized I loved my wife is if I said something negative towards her, something that could even be seen as insulting, and she would just laugh it off. It's a great defuser in our relationship. With anyone else, they'd probably go "why the hell would you say something like that to me?" or "oh yeah? Well you're ___ and ___". But she just laughs and moves on, and I love her for that.

 

I have a hard time talking with (or generally being around) people who don't have a sense of humor about their problems. They really suck the joy out of the room. Obviously some problems are serious but some people just treat everything like an emergency.

 

I still believe (even after this grim fucking winter) that life should resemble a Tom Robbins book and people should be like Tom Robbins characters, even in the face of the grimmest shit. In fact this thread reminds me of the passage in Jitterbug Perfume where he is describing something vaguely resembling heaven and in order to be gain admittance your soul is placed on a balance and opposite of a feather and if your soul is lighter than a feather then you're allowed in.

 

I heard some college girl do a book review on Jitterbug Perfume and she started talking about spiritual elitism, completely missing the point of the metaphor--and really the message at the heart of nearly every Tom Robbins book--that levity is its own reward, it itself is the bliss/heaven/nirvana/etc...

[Guest murphythecat8]

 

 

 

 

 

i'm ok with all of the above but i still can't get with this...

 

Its YOUR fault if you suffer, never the fault of the other.

 

This is one of those ideas that you can't really understand until you effect a radical perspective shift. I'm not a Buddhist but I spend a lot of time trying to integrate ideas that Buddhism touches upon. I actually don't think the word 'fault' is helpful because that implies judgement of the self, which isn't productive.

 

If you approach the idea from a standard materialist standpoint then yes, obviously the statement is fairly monstrous.

 

But if you held beliefs such as:

 

- The binary of good/bad is a learned construct and in actuality all situations are neutral until we impose meaning on them.

- all human life (and all plains of existence, everywhere) is in actuality a temporary extension of an infinite non-physical consciousness for the purposes of expansion, growth and experience.

- there is no death, only the transition of consciousness from one focus of experience to another.

 

... then it sounds a lot less shady. The general idea being that a highly-conscious person would not judge a circumstance or experience as inherently negative, given that all reality is ultimately for the purpose of experience and growth and all consciousness is ultimately of the same source.

 

But yeah, that kind of perspective shift can be a little bit tricky (but not impossible) to integrate into everyday life.

 

Wow, nobody is clarifying that statement at all.

 

 

I think the point Murphy was trying to make (but completely botched and made Buddhism sound like it likes to blame victims :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: ) is that we have some measure of control over our own suffering.

 

 

 

This idea is at the very heart of Buddhism. It does not mean that when someone hurts us, the suffering is our own fault. It means that once a person has hurt us, we then have some measure of control over how much we suffer.

This is not my opinion! I mean, im not the one who says that. but yeah, primarly, we are the cause of our own suffering.

If you suffer, it is your fault, or use any other word that please the ear. :)

I dont know how to say that differently, but seriously, your post is a bit false, according to the buddha. not its not fault, its just incomplete.

yes you have some control on your feelings, that I agree. and the buddha would say that you have complete control over your feelings. complete, all, everything is created by you. all you feeling are dependant of your senses right, therefore, your mood, your emotions, your sensation towards things in life depends only on you. but seriously, as soon as we go into details, we loose something, or its not totally adequate.

its a quite radical view of the world, I admit. But for me, it all make sense.

 

You are talking about the Buddhist ideal of a person completely ridding oneself of desire (and thus suffering). I think that is what "nirvana" refers to. However, I think humans can only get glimpses of it. Hell, even the Dalai Lama even admits to getting angry and feeling other such forms of suffering.

 

 

You seem like a cool dude but I think you are making lofty pretenses that have no real meaning outside of academia.

k

you should stop making assumption. all this thread is filled with people making assumption.

[LimpyLoo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

i'm ok with all of the above but i still can't get with this...

 

Its YOUR fault if you suffer, never the fault of the other.

 

This is one of those ideas that you can't really understand until you effect a radical perspective shift. I'm not a Buddhist but I spend a lot of time trying to integrate ideas that Buddhism touches upon. I actually don't think the word 'fault' is helpful because that implies judgement of the self, which isn't productive.

 

If you approach the idea from a standard materialist standpoint then yes, obviously the statement is fairly monstrous.

 

But if you held beliefs such as:

 

- The binary of good/bad is a learned construct and in actuality all situations are neutral until we impose meaning on them.

- all human life (and all plains of existence, everywhere) is in actuality a temporary extension of an infinite non-physical consciousness for the purposes of expansion, growth and experience.

- there is no death, only the transition of consciousness from one focus of experience to another.

 

... then it sounds a lot less shady. The general idea being that a highly-conscious person would not judge a circumstance or experience as inherently negative, given that all reality is ultimately for the purpose of experience and growth and all consciousness is ultimately of the same source.

 

But yeah, that kind of perspective shift can be a little bit tricky (but not impossible) to integrate into everyday life.

 

Wow, nobody is clarifying that statement at all.

 

 

I think the point Murphy was trying to make (but completely botched and made Buddhism sound like it likes to blame victims :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: ) is that we have some measure of control over our own suffering.

 

 

 

This idea is at the very heart of Buddhism. It does not mean that when someone hurts us, the suffering is our own fault. It means that once a person has hurt us, we then have some measure of control over how much we suffer.

This is not my opinion! I mean, im not the one who says that. but yeah, primarly, we are the cause of our own suffering.

If you suffer, it is your fault, or use any other word that please the ear. :)

I dont know how to say that differently, but seriously, your post is a bit false, according to the buddha. not its not fault, its just incomplete.

yes you have some control on your feelings, that I agree. and the buddha would say that you have complete control over your feelings. complete, all, everything is created by you. all you feeling are dependant of your senses right, therefore, your mood, your emotions, your sensation towards things in life depends only on you. but seriously, as soon as we go into details, we loose something, or its not totally adequate.

its a quite radical view of the world, I admit. But for me, it all make sense.

 

You are talking about the Buddhist ideal of a person completely ridding oneself of desire (and thus suffering). I think that is what "nirvana" refers to. However, I think humans can only get glimpses of it. Hell, even the Dalai Lama even admits to getting angry and feeling other such forms of suffering.

 

 

You seem like a cool dude but I think you are making lofty pretenses that have no real meaning outside of academia.

k

you should stop making assumption. all this thread is filled with people making assumption.

 

i didn't make any assumptions. i read you words and replied to them.