I am more open minded than I used to be, and I have lately come to a kind of spiritualism-under-protest, like the old woody allen (sorry) joke: to you, I'm an atheist, to god, I'm the loyal opposition. I don't know if I believe any of it but it feels boneheaded to dismiss it. Having said that, the positivity mindset stuff appeals to me for the same reasons you indicated: it's a choice I can actually make to experience life from the point of view of a lucky sap instead of a poor slob. The only downside is it sometimes feels inauthentic, but my authentic (always negative) beliefs about myself have never done me any good.
Yeah I think for me the effective practice has been slowing down and examining my habitual negativity…I don’t have to pretend I’m happy or positive with a given situation but I don’t have to invest emotional energy.
margaret! move back to Pgh! (jk) (not really) (i'm sure you have your reasons). this is deep and full. good stuff even though not about music. i have some other thoughts but they are coming slowly, so maybe i'll contact you later... thanks for getting my sleepy brain moving.
I’d love to hear your thoughts once they solidify (or even if they don’t)…if I addressed all the questions that came up while I was writing I would have just been writing it forever, so in a couple weeks I might just find the whole thing embarrassing
I am more open minded than I used to be, and I have lately come to a kind of spiritualism-under-protest, like the old woody allen (sorry) joke: to you, I'm an atheist, to god, I'm the loyal opposition. I don't know if I believe any of it but it feels boneheaded to dismiss it. Having said that, the positivity mindset stuff appeals to me for the same reasons you indicated: it's a choice I can actually make to experience life from the point of view of a lucky sap instead of a poor slob. The only downside is it sometimes feels inauthentic, but my authentic (always negative) beliefs about myself have never done me any good.
Yeah I think for me the effective practice has been slowing down and examining my habitual negativity…I don’t have to pretend I’m happy or positive with a given situation but I don’t have to invest emotional energy.
margaret! move back to Pgh! (jk) (not really) (i'm sure you have your reasons). this is deep and full. good stuff even though not about music. i have some other thoughts but they are coming slowly, so maybe i'll contact you later... thanks for getting my sleepy brain moving.
I’d love to hear your thoughts once they solidify (or even if they don’t)…if I addressed all the questions that came up while I was writing I would have just been writing it forever, so in a couple weeks I might just find the whole thing embarrassing