[BigTex]

I was thinking today about what brings a doomer peace in times like these. I'm just talking about methods, not beliefs. Sort of like doomer meditation.

It seems to me that there are three areas in which a lot of emotional friction is experienced, and they are:

- Greed
- Fear
- Pride

The ways in which these feelings are commonly manifested are:

- Investments
- News Coverage
- Conflict with Others

So the problem is how to reduce the corrosive effects of these experiences on your sense of emotional well-being.

I suggest a fast in each area:

- For your investments, consider converting some or all of your assets to cash or cash equivalents (or whatever you consider to be safe) for a few weeks so that you do not feel the need to follow the markets on the edge of your seat every day. Just de-link from that whole circus for a while. This is the Investment Fast.

- For the news coverage you follow, dramatically curtail it or simply stop watching and reading the news for a while. Most of it is speculation and gossip designed to bring out emotional responses in those who are exposed to it. You may not miss much (if anything) while you are away. If anything really important happens someone will tell you. This is the News Fast.

- When it comes to conflict with others, I think personal tension can create a generally suspicious and/or hostile disposition toward others. Often this approach becomes self-fulfilling. I suggest that if someone were to make a deliberate effort to take a more cooperative approach to dealing with others for a few weeks (or any amount of time) where you basically just avoid competing with others and instead try to cooperate with them, it might release a lot of pent up tension. In some instances this may mean yielding to others in traffic, in others it might mean yielding to them in a discussion or argument. The point is to avoid emotional friction with others that is created by conflict and/or the defense of one's pride. This is the Conflict Fast.

I have recently incorporated some of these ideas into my daily life and I find that it does help me to see things more clearly and with less fatigue.

I thought I would pass it along for anyone who is interested.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

For me (though I can be very competitive) my conflict with others seems to stem more from seeing others as separate and not connected to me in any way. (which is hard when you see people doing really stupid things that you wouldn't be caught dead doing)

By thinking of ourselves as purely individualistic beings we create a sense of isolation and from this identity it is easier to blame and dehumanise other people. It is much harder in society to realize that we are all connected and part of the greater picture (for lack of a better analogy). (especially since most here do think that many are going to die off).

Then you come up to another conundrum, that being the nurse who starts her profession wanting to succor and aide those who are in pain and hurt, but winds up having to shut herself (or himself) off from the mass of pain she or he confronts on a daily basis.

[mos6507]

Tex, with posts like that I think it's time to swich your avatar back to Keye Luke.