Poll: How's Life?

[PsykoDragon]

Life is a roller coaster. You can't really enjoy the highs without suffering the lows.

Is that really true? I've read about "Duality", & I've heard many people quote what you said, but can't that be unbalanced? Can't you have, say, a bad year in school, & spend the rest of your life in luxury & fun, without any bad sides to your life, until you die? Can't you have a great childhood, & everything goes downhill from there forever, to the point that even if you TRY to have fun, you can't? This is purely theoretical of course, but can't it be?

Well yes, that's true. But I'm not saying it's impossible to have one without the other. I'm saying it's impossible to enjoy the good parts to their fullest without having the bad times. Yes, you could have a life with nothing bad in it, but that would set your definition of normal at what most people would consider good. So things would have to be great for you to think of them as good.

What I mean is, say normal is 0. If you live your whole life at 1, then things would have to be at 2 for you to think they were better. But if you were at -1 and went up to 1, what would be just good for most people would be great for you. Make sense?

Yes, of course. Relativity. I wonder though, if a person lived his whole life at, say, 10, would he really think his life was normal? Wouldn't he know how much his life rocks, appreciate it, & be enjoying it? Same goes for someone living his whole life at -10.

Well, yes, they would know it was excellent. But think about this: who would be happier? A man living at -10 that got to spend a month at 10, or a man who lived at 10 his whole life? For that one month, the man at -10 would be infinitely happier than the man at 10.

Of course. But his whole life would eventually overshadow that. & in the end, if he comes to this thread? He'd almost definitely select the last choice in this poll.

It's nice to see that there's more people whose lives are positive than negative in this poll so far. & then you have the "Meh"'s, who are more than the others by far :/ In hindsight, I should've made 2 "Meh"'s: "Meh, could be worse", & "Meh, could be better". Tell me Meh's, how do YOU feel?

Well, what if he gets to live the last 10 years of his life at 10? What would he say then?

Yeah, I was thinking of that. The man will die, & let's say God asks him "How was Life?", & I agree, he'll say "Great!" But let him spend eternity mulling over it. All the time wasted at -10. All the terrible things that happened, remembering how he felt then. & God asks him again, "How was Life?"

Using an inanimate example isn't the best in my opinion, but saying that the scoring of life is a mixture, or a solution, would describe how I'm thinking about it. You have a cup nearly full of -10, & you top it up with +10, which stays on top while dissolving little-by-little. For a while all you can see is the +10, but as it dissolves, you realize how much -10 there is in there. That man would probably say "Life wasn't very good."

No matter how good or bad your life becomes, memories of how life was before will influence you. "God, all the time wasted being -10, why? All the terrible things that happened to me then, why?"

Well, to continue the numbers metaphor, the point is that if he lived for 10 years at 10, then it would feel to him like 11. But for the man who lives at 10, it would only feel like 10. (I'm assuming 10 as the maximum physically possible, while higher numbers would be mentally possible).

That's true, relativity, but it's only for as long as he doesn't remember the worse years. Those +10 years will be a +11, but for how long?

 

[xitel]

Life is a roller coaster. You can't really enjoy the highs without suffering the lows.

Is that really true? I've read about "Duality", & I've heard many people quote what you said, but can't that be unbalanced? Can't you have, say, a bad year in school, & spend the rest of your life in luxury & fun, without any bad sides to your life, until you die? Can't you have a great childhood, & everything goes downhill from there forever, to the point that even if you TRY to have fun, you can't? This is purely theoretical of course, but can't it be?

Well yes, that's true. But I'm not saying it's impossible to have one without the other. I'm saying it's impossible to enjoy the good parts to their fullest without having the bad times. Yes, you could have a life with nothing bad in it, but that would set your definition of normal at what most people would consider good. So things would have to be great for you to think of them as good.

What I mean is, say normal is 0. If you live your whole life at 1, then things would have to be at 2 for you to think they were better. But if you were at -1 and went up to 1, what would be just good for most people would be great for you. Make sense?

Yes, of course. Relativity. I wonder though, if a person lived his whole life at, say, 10, would he really think his life was normal? Wouldn't he know how much his life rocks, appreciate it, & be enjoying it? Same goes for someone living his whole life at -10.

Well, yes, they would know it was excellent. But think about this: who would be happier? A man living at -10 that got to spend a month at 10, or a man who lived at 10 his whole life? For that one month, the man at -10 would be infinitely happier than the man at 10.

Of course. But his whole life would eventually overshadow that. & in the end, if he comes to this thread? He'd almost definitely select the last choice in this poll.

It's nice to see that there's more people whose lives are positive than negative in this poll so far. & then you have the "Meh"'s, who are more than the others by far :/ In hindsight, I should've made 2 "Meh"'s: "Meh, could be worse", & "Meh, could be better". Tell me Meh's, how do YOU feel?

Well, what if he gets to live the last 10 years of his life at 10? What would he say then?

Yeah, I was thinking of that. The man will die, & let's say God asks him "How was Life?", & I agree, he'll say "Great!" But let him spend eternity mulling over it. All the time wasted at -10. All the terrible things that happened, remembering how he felt then. & God asks him again, "How was Life?"

Using an inanimate example isn't the best in my opinion, but saying that the scoring of life is a mixture, or a solution, would describe how I'm thinking about it. You have a cup nearly full of -10, & you top it up with +10, which stays on top while dissolving little-by-little. For a while all you can see is the +10, but as it dissolves, you realize how much -10 there is in there. That man would probably say "Life wasn't very good."

No matter how good or bad your life becomes, memories of how life was before will influence you. "God, all the time wasted being -10, why? All the terrible things that happened to me then, why?"

Well, to continue the numbers metaphor, the point is that if he lived for 10 years at 10, then it would feel to him like 11. But for the man who lives at 10, it would only feel like 10. (I'm assuming 10 as the maximum physically possible, while higher numbers would be mentally possible).

That's true, relativity, but it's only for as long as he doesn't remember the worse years. Those +10 years will be a +11, but for how long?

The point is, experiencing bad moments makes the good moments even better. That's what I've been trying to prove.

 

[Tomany2]

some days i wanna cut out my stomach than eat it just to watch it come back out.

other days im in the mood for a good paintball shoot-up...that is untill i broke my F*cking tippmann

and on the rare ocasion i grab $500 buy a bunch of canned food and than give it to the food shelter ( ive only done this 2 times... not worth it)

 

[PsykoDragon]

some days i wanna cut out my stomach than eat it just to watch it come back out.

other days im in the mood for a good paintball shoot-up...that is untill i broke my F*cking tippmann

and on the rare ocasion i grab $500 buy a bunch of canned food and than give it to the food shelter ( ive only done this 2 times... not worth it)

The needy will be thankful ^^

I'm impressed at how many more people are having better lives than others Does anyone know where the majority of people here come from?

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

I'm in a kind of Limbo on Earth, I'm at a stage in my life where things are really shitty but are about to pick up, I just have to wait.

So to wrap that up, perfectly shitty and boring but I'm doing something about it.

 

[Mr. Squirrel]

My life's great, it's not perfect but I don't care, so I guess that means I'm happy.

 

[Tomany2]

some days i wanna cut out my stomach than eat it just to watch it come back out.

other days im in the mood for a good paintball shoot-up...that is untill i broke my F*cking tippmann

and on the rare ocasion i grab $500 buy a bunch of canned food and than give it to the food shelter ( ive only done this 2 times... not worth it)

The needy will be thankful ^^

I'm impressed at how many more people are having better lives than others Does anyone know where the majority of people here come from?

thanks for the input and im from canada... that was 4 pay cheques worth of money but was worth it

 

[Toner]

Ok, I just saw this thread, and had to post.
*voted for 'Life is Great!'*

A few weeks ago I went on a "Positive Psychology" course with some other people from work. It was only 2 days, and it was done by a professor from some Uni in the UK (I can't remember which), and it was all about how you can consciously switch your mind, such that you become a more permanently positive and happier person (which constitutes roughly 2% of the UK population who stay near this higher state of general brilliantness).

Ok yes, I can anticipate the "Thats a load of crap..." posts, but meh.

It's all about how your brain's basic 'default' setting is one of "meh", which is only altered up to better happiness levels when something happens. So by actively thinking about how you can view things positively regardless of what happens, act positively towards others and basically change your 'default' brain settings you can (in theory) become a generally much happier person.
Sure it can't deal with something exceptionally bad, but it can deal with almost all day-to-day things, and can also help your "bouncebackability" (real word there I'm afraid) from seriously bad events.

So yes, things rock right now.

 

[insectoid]

Meh it's alright. Nothing of note, bad or good.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

Ok, I just saw this thread, and had to post.
*voted for 'Life is Great!'*

A few weeks ago I went on a "Positive Psychology" course with some other people from work. It was only 2 days, and it was done by a professor from some Uni in the UK (I can't remember which), and it was all about how you can consciously switch your mind, such that you become a more permanently positive and happier person (which constitutes roughly 2% of the UK population who stay near this higher state of general brilliantness).

Ok yes, I can anticipate the "Thats a load of crap..." posts, but meh.

It's all about how your brain's basic 'default' setting is one of "meh", which is only altered up to better happiness levels when something happens. So by actively thinking about how you can view things positively regardless of what happens, act positively towards others and basically change your 'default' brain settings you can (in theory) become a generally much happier person.
Sure it can't deal with something exceptionally bad, but it can deal with almost all day-to-day things, and can also help your "bouncebackability" (real word there I'm afraid) from seriously bad events.

So yes, things rock right now.

Yes, rationalizing things as happy will eventually skew your perspective that way. Congnotive therapy pretty much operates under this notion. The only problem is if you do objectively have a shitty life and you rationalize it as happy. In this situation you would be falsly rationalizing things and living in denial, perpetually trapped in your secret hell.

The good thing about therapy is that you do have an objective person who can assess the quality of your life before sending you down the path of rationalized hapiness. Thankfully, life usually isn't as bad as people make it out to be anyways. I mean I'm happy.

 

[Toner]

Ok, I just saw this thread, and had to post.
*voted for 'Life is Great!'*

A few weeks ago I went on a "Positive Psychology" course with some other people from work. It was only 2 days, and it was done by a professor from some Uni in the UK (I can't remember which), and it was all about how you can consciously switch your mind, such that you become a more permanently positive and happier person (which constitutes roughly 2% of the UK population who stay near this higher state of general brilliantness).

Ok yes, I can anticipate the "Thats a load of crap..." posts, but meh.

It's all about how your brain's basic 'default' setting is one of "meh", which is only altered up to better happiness levels when something happens. So by actively thinking about how you can view things positively regardless of what happens, act positively towards others and basically change your 'default' brain settings you can (in theory) become a generally much happier person.
Sure it can't deal with something exceptionally bad, but it can deal with almost all day-to-day things, and can also help your "bouncebackability" (real word there I'm afraid) from seriously bad events.

So yes, things rock right now.

Yes, rationalizing things as happy will eventually skew your perspective that way. Congnotive therapy pretty much operates under this notion. The only problem is if you do objectively have a shitty life and you rationalize it as happy. In this situation you would be falsly rationalizing things and living in denial, perpetually trapped in your secret hell.

The good thing about therapy is that you do have an objective person who can assess the quality of your life before sending you down the path of rationalized hapiness. Thankfully, life usually isn't as bad as people make it out to be anyways. I mean I'm happy.

Well yes, there is the danger of going over the upper-boundary into general denial/excessive behavior, but there are sometimes rather vivid warning signs for it.

Sure, when it's raining you have every right to say "Damn, it's raining.", but you have the choice as to whether this will affect your mood. Roughly 10% of everything that happens to you will have an immediate knock-on effect, from which you'll have little control. 90% of things that happen you to however, you usually have a choice as to how you feel about that event. Either get all grumpy and depressed that it's making you all wet, or just say "Oh, well there isn't much else I can do about it, so why let it get me down?" Along with identifying and staying in touch with awesome things in your life that you take for granted, you can generally turn "meh" into "Actually, this ain't that bad at all."

"Whenever you wake up from bed in the morning, take a few seconds to be grateful that you don't have toothache."

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

Well yes, there is the danger of going over the upper-boundary into general denial/excessive behavior, but there are sometimes rather vivid warning signs for it.

Sure, when it's raining you have every right to say "Damn, it's raining.", but you have the choice as to whether this will affect your mood. Roughly 10% of everything that happens to you will have an immediate knock-on effect, from which you'll have little control. 90% of things that happen you to however, you usually have a choice as to how you feel about that event. Either get all grumpy and depressed that it's making you all wet, or just say "Oh, well there isn't much else I can do about it, so why let it get me down?" Along with identifying and staying in touch with awesome things in your life that you take for granted, you can generally turn "meh" into "Actually, this ain't that bad at all."

"Whenever you wake up from bed in the morning, take a few seconds to be grateful that you don't have toothache."

In general, I agree. Just making the point that if someone has serious problems that therapy is usually the best route as even simple things as "think happier about life" can cause problems if missallocated to the wrong individual.

 

[meatloaf231]

Life is fantastic! Hooray!

 

[Easykill]

My life rocks, how could it not when the person living it is so awesome? It's impossible. I'm also an irreparable optimist; it doesn't matter what happens, I'll manage.

I am in a vegatative state at the moment but I have not dabbled in masochism for a year so I can't really complain, not like I ever had the guts to draw blood or anything.

I'm just going to ignore the depressing aspects of this and just say "Damn you! Tempt me not, you vile creation of Satan! Damn you!"
....
Ok, that might have been a bit too much, especially since I don't really believe in God, but my point stands. I'm totally not a masochist, but I have a fairly high tolerance for pain, and I like to test/expand that. So, when I read that, it plants the seeds in me to just cut myself once to see if I can follow through (1000 to 1 I can, but to not test your strength is to allow weakness to invade... or something). Not a good idea. As far as actual injuries are concerned, the rule of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger is totally wrong. So stop TEMPTING me!

 

[Khedive Rex]

Better than the alternative. I'm a fan of being ambulatory.

 

[MsDevin92]

Eh, my life's taken a definite downward spiral. I still have it good with the two loving parents and all, but now one's in the hospital indefinitely with no visitation allowed, and the other is kind of putting himself through the grinder to support us.

In short, stressful, and I'd pay to jump back three or so years in life.

 

[PsykoDragon]

Well yes, there is the danger of going over the upper-boundary into general denial/excessive behavior, but there are sometimes rather vivid warning signs for it.

Sure, when it's raining you have every right to say "Damn, it's raining.", but you have the choice as to whether this will affect your mood. Roughly 10% of everything that happens to you will have an immediate knock-on effect, from which you'll have little control. 90% of things that happen you to however, you usually have a choice as to how you feel about that event. Either get all grumpy and depressed that it's making you all wet, or just say "Oh, well there isn't much else I can do about it, so why let it get me down?" Along with identifying and staying in touch with awesome things in your life that you take for granted, you can generally turn "meh" into "Actually, this ain't that bad at all."

"Whenever you wake up from bed in the morning, take a few seconds to be grateful that you don't have toothache."

This is one of those things that I feel I know in the back of my mind, but I just don't have it explained to me, or haven't thought much of it.

Yes, it's not only mood, there are PLENTY of things you can make your brain do. Listen to some music that you've only heard once, & you were drunk back then, & you can easily slip into a state that resembles drunkenness. Try to remember every bit of what it was like when those bullies beat you up in school, & anger will consume you. Think of the pleasant things you have or had in life, & your face will probably smile involuntarily.

But what if this backfires? If you think about it, you can remember something that angers you, but realize that it's the past & the present can calm you. You can remember something that made you sad, &realize that those times are gone, & these days are worth putting a smile on for. You can remember some happy times, & then feel sad that those times are over, right? I know the idea is to remember & appreciate these moments, but it can backfire, amirite?

But yeah, most bad things that happen to me I just shrug off. Hell, one time I fell & bit through my lower lip, & I just rushed to the nurse's clinic & came back laughing (no painkillers)! But for me life is bad right now.

Eh, my life's taken a definite downward spiral. I still have it good with the two loving parents and all, but now one's in the hospital indefinitely with no visitation allowed, and the other is kind of putting himself through the grinder to support us.

In short, stressful, and I'd pay to jump back three or so years in life.

MsDevin, your situation is unfortunate. I can only say that I truly wish the best for you & your parents, & hope that things will get better.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Life's better than "meh" for me, but not much better at the moment. I did get great news that I don't have to worry about my job for the next year or two (given that I've got two new projects about to start) but sadly a bunch of stupid low-level health downers for myself and a recent family medical emergency dulls that satisfaction a lot.

Still, it feels silly to complain about such when others are worried about jobs, homes, and food... I'll vote "good", and try to keep my grumbling down to a dull rumble.

-- Steve

 

[PsykoDragon]

Still, it feels silly to complain about such when others are worried about jobs, homes, and food... I'll vote "good", and try to keep my grumbling down to a dull rumble.

-- Steve

Optimism ftw ^^ & remember that everyone has their own problems, so no matter how silly your problems may seem compared to others, it's still a problem.

 

[ianuam]

Girlfriend left me to be with her long lost friend that turned up three days previously, i'm ill insofar as i can't walk terribly well etc, and i play WoW 10 hours a day.

Life, still, is pretty great. I'm very lucky and can't complain.