1. Hold onto that grudge
2. Blame someone else for your own shortcomings
3. Wonder why anyone wastes their time on you
4. Think of yourself as a lost cause
5. Tell a lie
6. Just kill some time
7. Think about how much you hate your job while you’re at work
8. Belittle someone
9. Tell yourself that you can’t make a difference
10. Slouch in every chair you sit in
It’s easy.
On the other hand, if you’d like to feel better instead of worse, you could do the opposite of any or all of these. It’s not as easy or natural, but you won’t regret it when the sun is setting at the end of the day.
Josh
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s like you have a security camera permanently trained on me! Spooky.
I’m lucky because I can do all of those things sitting at the dinner table.
Actually, I love this list and I will try the opposite – but the chair slouching stays!!
I do, Dave. You won’t believe some of the videos I’ve posted of you on other, less savory blogs.
One of my favourites is moaning about a problem without any interest in tackling it, usually to people who can’t even help us.
Killing time is one of the worst!
It’s easy and natural to complain, which is why most people do that instead of taking action.
Absolutely spot on. I feel better having read this. Thanks Josh!
Wonderful. I am bestowing an honorary doctorate of doctorness on myself.
It’s always the simple that seems to get us. The things we teach our children and have such difficulty remembering to do ourselves. Thank you!
Grand gestures are so much easier to do than the little things.
Killin’ tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime. . . is a-killin’ meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. . . thanks for this one, Josh! This is another “share with the faculty to give to the kids” post, and synchronicity and serendipity win AGAIN! I have all health classes in here today, taking a state health education assessment. All of it’s true up there, too. Thanks for the brain-poke, man! We all need it!
Nobody needs it more than me. glad you liked it!
Awww, I was cruising along your list, thinking, ‘I never do that or that or that’ and ‘Well maybe sometimes but I’m well aware of that so it doesn’t count
’ until I got to ‘Slouch in every chair you sit in.’
Busted! Dang. Gonna have to start thinking about my posture. Have you been talking to my mom?
Yep. My posture isn’t perfect. But it used to be, and that was because I played the piano every day. If everyone took up piano, we’d all walk and sit a lot straighter. If only there was another way!
“If only there was another way!”
There is!
Belly dancing!!!
Nothing has done so much for my posture (and other things, too, but we won’t go there in this comment).
YMMV
Hugs and butterflies,
~T~
“If only there was another way!”
There is! There is! There is another way!
It’s…..
(wait for it)….
Belly Dancing!!
Yup, does wonders for posture. You could try it some time!
Hugs and butterflies,
~T~
YMMV
Love it. Simple but very effective ways to really understand how our mind and body work together.
Now go and implement them!
I’ll make an admission of guilt to numbers 1,3 and 4. Not to say the others don’t happen, but these ones have bogged me down significantly. Perception seems key here, so long as one (myself in this case) maintains said point of view, the longer one will be carrying that weight.
Is it as simple as just “changing your mind”? I think so. I really think it’s a choice on how you want to take things, both the good and the bad. Oh geez, I’m ranting again. Thanks for this one Josh, sound advice and you’ve really primed me for my philosophy classes today.
what classes are you in right now?
Spot on. Will be linking my blog to this post. Great stuff.
Albert, you’re always welcome here. You’re my favorite ghost.
Camus hangs out here!? I love absurdism, and “L’Etranger” is a great read
Casey, I thought you’d like that. Albert pops in occasionally to cheer everyone up. Have you read The Plague?
I haven’t read The Plague, and will have to add it to the queue of other stuff I have to read. As for classes I’ve got a PHL of Sex and Love as well as my second go at Asian PHL. I have the same instructor for both and they’ve been great.
Have you read any Foucault?
I haven’t, and from what I’ve looked into I think I’d like him. Would love to hear the critiques on social institutions (namely prisons) from a self professed Nietzschean.
Killing time is the one that really does it for me. Every since I was a kid that was somehting that was burned into my brain, that killing time was bad.
I believe that the mark you leave on the world is a sum of the effort you put in on a daily basis. If you want people to see that you have done some good, then you need to get off your ass and show some progress on a daily basis, no matter what your passion is.
If we are not moving forward, then we are moving backwards.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
Thanks, Josh! You can also feel better by paying attention to your breath, making it slow, deep, and rhythmic.
This is one of my favourite lists, ever. Well done!
And, while I do fall into some of these traps some of the time, I am mindful to pull myself back out usually very quickly. It’s so nice having someone else prod me to do so, too.
Thank you, as always!
H&B,
~T~
Hi Josh .. wise words = do the opposite & you’ll feel so much better (negativity just brings us down).
Life is fun and full of positives and opportunities, full of creative ideas .. things to do .. places to visit .. and people to make happy .. let’s do it.
Thanks – Hilary
Thanks Hilary! I’m in.
Excellent Josh .. I know you are .. you wouldn’t miss out for the world .. wonderful what you’re doing for us & all concerned .. the world should be full of you .. and a few of us!! Have a great rest of the week – Hilary
Hey Josh!
Number 1 has really been a challenge for me lately (yep, I admit it. I am an official grudge holder. Yuck! I know…). Thankfully, with the help of such thought provoking reading – and the occasional smack from the wife – I’m learning to let go. Spooky la Weird how you are always dead on with stuff Josh.
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