Sunday, August 2, 2009

What Makes You Crazy?

Is there something that makes you nuts? Something that just pushes your buttons? Something that will make you run run run far away?

Negativity.

That's the thing I can say without hesitation that I truly hate. SEE?! The very word conjures up another negative word!

Negativity breeds negativity.
and apathy.
and hostility.

Tis a bad thing.

I'd like very much to hear how you feel about it.

But if it's not negativity that makes you nuts, what might it be?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Absolutely, negativity. And maybe crass stupidity. But negativity takes the cake. I was arguing with my son the other day, if there is a glass that is half empty, it means it has to be half full!

Kaye, my verification word is haslish, only 1 letter from hashish....hmmmm.

Vicki Lane said...

Yep, negativity is a real downer. It's always my feeling that in a bad situation, you try to do the best you can and when you've done what's possible, then stop whining about the things you can't fix.

It also make me crazy to be called 'young lady' by people much younger than I. But beyond whacking them over the head with my walker ;-), whaddayagonnado?

(Was that negative? Oh dear.)

Bo Parker said...

Kaye, I’m showing up a little late on your question of negativity. It was one that made me stop and think after our recent discussions. I once carried the reputation of being an impractical idealist. But the Lord knows that after events of the past several years, I could tell Job to sit down and stop whining. However, I have come to realize that the idea of things being positive or negative is irrelative. I now see myself as a realist. That is, by definition, I accept that things are “real and exist independently of what anyone thinks about them,” including myself. That the glass is half filled with milk is not a negative or positive thing. It is what it is.
If we perceive things or comments in a positive or negative way, we are doing a disservice to both ourselves, and those with whom we interact. You are correct. Negativity hangs out in the same back alley as apathy and hostility. And those three thugs can mug someone in an instant. But realism is emotionally neutral. Accepting life in that light saves a lot of wear and tear on the body from useless grinding of the emotional gears as we travel up and down the hills and valleys of life.
Bo Parker

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

O.K. - this is what I adore about Meanderings and Muses.

Robin and Vicki making me laugh.

(thanks!)

and Bo Parker making me think. Bo - these are excellent observations and you are absolutely right. I'm one who tends to live my life fueled by emotions. (Surprise Surprise!).
I wonder if I can change that enough to stop being affected by other people's actions, which are also fueled by emotion, and start seeing them as plain, stark realism?
Unfortunately, I fear not. Not right now. But - as you well know - better than most, situations and life itself can change in the wink of an eye.
You're a man of realism, but also deep feelings. And certainly, not a whiner! Don't change a thing, my friend.
And hey - I'll see you in Raleigh next week. Yay!