((((RIVER))))

Keep trying to write something to tell you I relate to what you are said here but can't seem to find the words. I don't particularly like feel good quotes either. I do like what this guy is saying about not heeping on a bunch of not so genuine positive stuff in order to cover up a sad/hurt/painful core because that's what I have done all my life. I've finally accepted the pain and misery as a huge part of who I am. Doing that has, ironically, helped me to experience more joy in life instead of always trying pretending to be a positive person. I've given up on any quest for friends for now so it's not that important to me to keep up the positive exterior.

(((River)))

Quotes like that make it all sound so easy, don't they?

Smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone!

Yeah. . .

I have this feeling about most of those "feel good" quotes floating around facebook. I think they are not so much about encouraging people as they are about guilting those who are actually grappling with the shit that life offers. Yet another subtlely encoded form of social coercion, control, and punishment. Glad to know I'm not alone in perceiving a somewhat sinister side to these things.

((river))

P.S. I hope no one thinks that the poem fragment in my signature falls in that category? Was a little unsure about using it for just that reason.

River

I don't like those feel good quotes much either, they can sometimes be very much "finger down the throat" maybe some would say I am just "bah humbug" but we feel what we feel, though I do like Dragonfly's signature quote, that really appeals to me!!

Thanks for the hugs and understanding. I am a natural born pessimist and have had to find ways to compensate for this less than popular point of view all my life. I certainly can't bitch about it on FB but I appreciate so much being able to bitch here and be understood and not rejected for it. Thanks!

quote:

Did you ever notice the idealism and enthusiasm of young, inexperienced college students....then witness it later being slowly extinguished?

Ah... I miss those days.

I catch myself being off/on inspired by the occasional quote - it depends where I am in myself. BUT the younger I was I definitely believed them more. One of my Ts used mantras a lot in her healing - unfortunately I have no reservations in telling her how absolutely useless those are for me personally. They work for some people somehow... I might be a pessimist but usually I'm looking for a witty retort - but that's to just about everything I read good/bad/otherwise.

Anyhow, interesting topic. It is hard to change the core of who we were - I often order hot drinks w/ whip cream (drinks that have no business with whipcream on them just because I like whipcream *that much*) and if you don't drink it fast enough a lot of it gets dissolved in the 'core'. Maybe it can work that way with life. Maybe that's how these sayings are supposed to work. For some people it's oil and water, for others maybe it is stuff that can be dissolved in.

Here is one I actually do like.
http://www.thatonerule.com/rule/663