Farmer's Market...
A friend of mine and I were talking yesterday about how the mind works, how memory works, and some of the armchair philosophies you can make while waiting an hour between classes. We noted that memory is a particular burden -- one that approaches a limit and needs to be cut off. Can you imagine a brain that we could remember every detail of every month, week, or day of our life. I have noticed with this exercise of writing down daily events and taking pictures that I still can't remember everything entirely. I can only remember January 7, 2009 for what I have written down and little else. Or worst yet, I can only remember September 2007 by things that I would have considered broad and unspecific at the time. I would take the stance that we are fortunate not to remember everything all at once. Think about all of the painful memories we have. Surely I am not a model nor microcosm of humanity but I have noticed that I have several more entries tagged with 'feeling crappy' than with 'feeling good'. That is to say that it is more probable in my life experience that stressors have occurred more than things that have made me happy.
What kind of life is this that renders this true? I remember reading a book a while back called Happiness is a Serious Problem -- explicating the theories of why we need or aspire to be happy and how that mindset molds the rest of our experience. There, the approach to happiness transcends the idea that is a personal goal and develops more as a moral obligation. The truth then, is that happiness is not necessarily a condition that falls on us (as we would be the passive receivers) but instead is an earned condition -- something that we have to actively work toward. I remember when I first read the book (I was particularly unhappy at the time) and the ideas were illuminating.
We owe it to ourselves and those around us to work on our happiness, happiness leads to goodness and decency, and happiness goes hand in hand with spirituality of one's being.
Farmer's Market...
1 comment:
I agree that happiness is not always necessary and that sometimes our culture focuses too much on positive-this and positive-that... but, as for your noticing more sad entries than happy entries, I've noticed that for myself, I tend to write more when I am sad. I also write when I am happy, but I definitely write more when I'm not feeling well or when I'm bored. I guess it's different for you because you write every day, so you can compare your feelings more accurately throughout the week. I've also noticed that whenever you have a bad day, it's usually because of certain tasks or certain expectations being unmet, but then you usually write about the people who care for you. These are the important things. The tasks and expectations will come and go, but many of the people will always be here for you. Just remember that. I love you.
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