The Good News
I was once told (ok, more than once, but mostly by the same person) that my blog is too negative. I focus on negative stuff. And it can be very true.
Been thinking about my state of mind in general, lately. The other day while riding to work, a couple of drivers did Very Nice Things that we people who ride bicycles ought to be very appreciative of. Normal stuff, like checking for bikes before opening your car door, but stuff that not everybody does, nonetheless. And I made an effort to try to keep those people in mind as I rode, to keep those kind actions in the background of my thoughts as I finished my ride. Thing is, if those people had done something negative--cut me off, not signalled, or worse, I likely wouldn't have had to make an effort at all to remember them for a while. Sometimes those sorts of actions stay with me all day--and, in fact, I think they build up in me as the days go by. I think, over many years, I have come to think of people as being sort of generally unkind, selfish and the like.
That is, I think I think that sort of subconsciously. Consciously, I think that people are all struggling in a world that they didn't make, to lesser and greater degrees of success (however they may judge success). I think that, even in the best of circumstances--circumstances that I often find myself in--life can be difficult to live. And I try to keep that in mind when somebody doesn't signal and makes a right hand turn right in front of me, cutting me off, or worse, a left hand turn from the opposing direction, almost hitting me, or some such. And I try to think about the times that I'm uncaring and unthinking--the times that I do something bad to others.
But why is it that the kind stuff, the nice stuff, which really can be the norm (most people don't cut me off), doesn't sink into my consciousness as much, doesn't stick out in my mind the way the jerks do? Is it just that things that aren't the norm stick out? Or are there more chemical/biological reasons--my adrenaline does go up when somebody cuts me off or some such, and perhaps adrenaline affects my emotional memory of the incident, so it sticks with me more?
At any rate, because I'm told I'm too negative here sometimes, and because yesterday was a blue day, I thought I'd say: I'm feeling a bit better today. The blue-ness is seeping away. The dark cloud, while it hasn't dissipated completely, looks less ominous today. There, I said it. Maybe I should rename the blog: Unicorns and Rainbows.
Filed under:Biking and Therapy
I was once told (ok, more than once, but mostly by the same person) that my blog is too negative. I focus on negative stuff. And it can be very true.
Been thinking about my state of mind in general, lately. The other day while riding to work, a couple of drivers did Very Nice Things that we people who ride bicycles ought to be very appreciative of. Normal stuff, like checking for bikes before opening your car door, but stuff that not everybody does, nonetheless. And I made an effort to try to keep those people in mind as I rode, to keep those kind actions in the background of my thoughts as I finished my ride. Thing is, if those people had done something negative--cut me off, not signalled, or worse, I likely wouldn't have had to make an effort at all to remember them for a while. Sometimes those sorts of actions stay with me all day--and, in fact, I think they build up in me as the days go by. I think, over many years, I have come to think of people as being sort of generally unkind, selfish and the like.
That is, I think I think that sort of subconsciously. Consciously, I think that people are all struggling in a world that they didn't make, to lesser and greater degrees of success (however they may judge success). I think that, even in the best of circumstances--circumstances that I often find myself in--life can be difficult to live. And I try to keep that in mind when somebody doesn't signal and makes a right hand turn right in front of me, cutting me off, or worse, a left hand turn from the opposing direction, almost hitting me, or some such. And I try to think about the times that I'm uncaring and unthinking--the times that I do something bad to others.
But why is it that the kind stuff, the nice stuff, which really can be the norm (most people don't cut me off), doesn't sink into my consciousness as much, doesn't stick out in my mind the way the jerks do? Is it just that things that aren't the norm stick out? Or are there more chemical/biological reasons--my adrenaline does go up when somebody cuts me off or some such, and perhaps adrenaline affects my emotional memory of the incident, so it sticks with me more?
At any rate, because I'm told I'm too negative here sometimes, and because yesterday was a blue day, I thought I'd say: I'm feeling a bit better today. The blue-ness is seeping away. The dark cloud, while it hasn't dissipated completely, looks less ominous today. There, I said it. Maybe I should rename the blog: Unicorns and Rainbows.
Filed under:Biking and Therapy
posted by Jeff Pollet at 8:58 AM
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