Is it possible to Live, Love, Laugh and Be Happy Now?

[KoKo]

Is it possible to balance? If so, how? :shrug: Any good stories of how one "copes with it all" out there? Curious.

[PowerToThePeople]

1. Nope, not yet imo. n/t

[nickyt]

9. I've been thinking that a really good all-time blow-out crying

jag might be very helpful, but I can't seem to get there. I'm just tense and wired and haven't slept worth shit since the night before Katrina hit. I know many millions of us are just - wasted, you know, and still unable to process/digest what we've all been through in less than a month. Nerves shot to hell. New world we're living in, and it's astonishingly - unacceptable. I know that I for one will never, ever, be the same person I was before I had to watch my people in New Orleans dying right in front of me.
For no fucking reason at all.
I'm too angry to be sad yet, I guess. This whole deal is I guess like a "grief process"? Anger, denial, numbness...anyway...I wish us all well...I hope great things come of all this, but I hate the price that was paid for them...

[PowerToThePeople]

14. Since Katrina?

Hell, It's been 4+ years for me, and I saw it coming after the SCOTUS sold out this country in 2000. But, I was ignorant of the shear magnitude of evil until the post 9/11 lies that have killed so many.

100,000+ dead Iraqi citizens, our fault
100,000+ dead indian ocean people,little response from us.
100,000+ homeless, displaced, unemployed S.E U.S. residents, little help from us.


What the HELL are my tax dollars going to!!! Certainly not to help people.

Oh ya, It goes into the pestilent's and vice pestilent's buddies pockets.

[liberaltrucker]

2. Drink "liberally" nt

[sweetheart]

3. the "pursuit of happiness"

Do you feel that your "pursuit of happiness" is impinged?

[MuseRider]

4. Yes

but for me it is in small doses to refresh and reset then back to work.

[H2O Man]

5. Yes.

I believe it is possible.

[KoKo]

10. I'm trying to find it...in little bits..

It's actually hard for me to go back and enjoy everthing I used to before Selection 2000. For awhile I could still do it..but Selection 04 sort of did me in.

So, I'm looking for inspiration into how others are coping and I used to be really good at it...but the well has run dry lately.

Gotta get my engine running again...and a good "kick in the butt" to figure out how to get back "love of life" in these dark times.

Volunteering and all that are great...but something more to re-nourish my belief is needed. Anyone else feel that way? And, what do you do?

[Lancer]

16. One day, no, make that one hour, at a time

So many posts to respond to here, but your question is mine. My therapist told me she has booked more appointments in the last three weeks than she can ever recall. Many returning patients hadn't been to see her in two years or more, but were plunged into depression by Katrina.

As for myself, for pure diversion I watch old black and white movies and do soduko puzzles. For my friends and family, I've begun to make Christmas gifts. I'm saving money to get clothes and nice gifts for some kids who evacuated from New Orleans to my town in NC. And I've made an effort to help people in my own circle who, while not affected directly by current events, are having a very difficult time making things work either emotionally or financially. Very small efforts, admittedly, but we're all here to help each other, IMO.

But I remain in deep despair, as do so many of us. Someone else mentioned that Katrina/Rita may be the tipping point that compels some to abandon their previous lives and take up one of the many causes that has arisen from the floodwaters.

When get back that joie de vivre, and you will, don't feel guilty about it. There are survivors whose stories I've seen on CNN who've lost everything except their faith, dignity, and their sense of humor. If they can do it, surely we can, too.

[elfin]

6. Now more than ever

Our time is short - and getting shorter thanks to Bushco.

[crispini]

7. Yoga.

Seriously. I have to make time for something that absorbs me 100%, takes my mind completely out of "everyday life" and makes me feel really fantastic for the rest of the day. For me, that's yoga, and it has become almost as important as food.

I'm also taking lots of vitamins and eating lots of chocolate.

I am kind of absorbing all of the negativity in the world and I very nearly had a nervous breakdown right after Katrina. I realized that it is a UTTER NECESSITY for me to make time for the things that keep me sane. Otherwise I really will flip my lid. :7

[Newsjock]

8. A very good question

Nowadays, when I manage to get a rare vacation (even as little as two or three days away), I try to disconnect from all media. I try not to think about what's happening. But it inevitably hits me -- the world is going to hell, and I'm out here walking on a trail in the middle of nowhere in a feeble attempt to escape it. So I find myself heading for the nearest Kinkos, where I grab the nearest PC and see what's up with DU and everyone else.

Alas, I can't just "drop everything" and devote my entire life to getting these weasels out of office. YET. But that may well be the tipping point that arrives for more and more individuals (cf.: Cindy Sheehan). I think we've fairly well established that Americans will put up with all sorts of crap, but there's a tipping point out there, and I think we're getting very close to it.

But in the meantime, no, I'm usually not a very pleasant person to be around these days. Just had to give another middle finger this afternoon to an idiot with a shiny-new W'04 sticker on his shiny new SUV.

In the meantime, though, I've committed to a seven-day, 585-mile bicycle ride to fight AIDS next year. It's something I can hang onto as a sign that my world will still be basically intact come then, and it's something I can do to help the world while I wait for journalism to once again be an art I can truly practice.

[dretceterini]

12. Pet causes

My wife and I have been very active in doing what we can to rescue all the poor pets left from the disasters, but we are both still PO'ed about things like the lack of coverage of the protest here in Salt Lake, and continually going one step forward and two steps back becuase of president simeon.

[Redstone]

11. Why not? I do all of those thngs every single day. You can, too.

Redstone

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

13. I try to keep bobbin' along. Not alway's easy. n/t

[alpaca]

15. This pretty much sums up what I have been feeling.

for a long time now.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2005/09/27/political_rage/

[Yupster]

17. Come on now

There have been many far worse times in the history of thw world than this, and people lived rewarding full happy lives.

Life has gone on through famines, plagues, genocides, slavery, falls of civilizations into barbrism.

We are not living in the worst of times or close to them.

[KoKo]

18. That's true...it's a good reminder..

didn't think it would happen now...but then no one else did, either.

[tom_paine]

19. Not the worst of times, but perhaps one of the worst negative rates of

change.

remember calculus? No, on the graph of "worst times", we are not even CLOSE.

But has the rate of descent of a Free Nation into Third-World Totalitarian Tyranny been faster since 1933-34?

It is the RATE at which the nation is being transformed into something evil, something medeval, something Imperial, something contradictory to the Founding Fathers' ideals, which is I think what people are distressed about.

The "slope" of the downward spiral.

But the worst of times...no way. Maybe in 2100, and may God have mercy on the poor bastards alive then.

[Yupster]

20. I don't know what you'd call a free nation, but

I'd say the Caribbean Indians had a pretty steep decline as they pretty much disppeared within a generation.

Poland had a pretty steep decline from 1939-45.

So, no, I don't agree that the U currently is having a historically quick descent into hell.

An ancient historian, (or a middle aged one for that matter) could probably list 50 different groups that suffered through events that would make our current problems seem like an ant a a picnic.

[hfojvt]

27. I am not sure about that

It was a common theme in the science fiction that I grew up with that technological civilizations have a crisis node to get past where they will either advance or go extinct. Usually the danger of a nuclear war was thought to be the key, we avoid that or we die, but it seems to me that there are others which are just as serious - global warming, environmental destruction, over population, limits of petroleum, and world poverty.
We had those problems in 1999 as well, but at that time it seemed that we had holes in the ship of civilization and we were bailing water and working to plug them. Instead we have the BFEE cabal which is not only not bailing and patching holes, but is taking a shotgun to the bottom of the ship and setting dynamite on the lower decks just to line the pockets of the already-rich. They would rather reign in hell than serve in heaven, or reign in a third world police state than serve in a democracy.
So there may be worse times when you look at the final results, but to the discerning it seems like the ship is going down, we are caught in a landslipe, a slow motion train wreck that is going to be cataclysmic on a global scale, or at the very least, problems that seemed insurmountable in 1999 are now 1000 times worse, opportunities to repair a four inch hole in the dike have passed and a twenty foot section of it is gone and the Niagara river is roaring through the gap, while the majority of the American public is secretly rooting for various hot couples on "The Amazing Race" unaware not only of what has been lost, but also of the hammer that is coming down.

[ladylibertee]

21. Yup. The DU website. LOL It helps me "VENT"

[BeTheChange]

22. Yes.

First coping tip, turn off DU, get offline. Im serious. It is not healthy to constantly be barraged with all the bad in the world 24/7 in real time. If you feel that you need to be constantly barraged with it, then go do something. Join the Peace Corps, become and activist.. start a nonprofit, work for a nonprofit... do something.

Life is too short and there is way too much beauty left in it not to live, love, laugh and be happy. There will be many times life will make you want to die, hate, cry and mourn.


I cope with it by watching life in all of its forms grow and thrive. The trees changing color.. the way the air smells like a point in time or a place every now and then, just for a second and reminds you of how far you have come, where you are going or where you once were... marvelling that every day I wake up next to my best friend, the one person that I truly believe was made just for me and we found each other, somehow... pondering what my cat is thinking and why he trusts me so much that he exposes his soft white belly to me... I could go on and on..

Life is beautiful, even when it isnt.

[FormerOstrich]

23. I'm glad you asked that as I oftentimes think

I have lost it.

Until September, 2001 I was happy go lucky. I was frequently call "sunshine" by different people that didn't know others called me that.

Several things occurred beginning in September 2001. 1) The end of a 12 year relationship 2) A complete change in the job market and difficulty finding work for the first time in over twenty years 3) Becoming aware of the world around me for the first time (I thought I was aware because I read two newspapers a day, studied sample ballots, and voted....but I was wrong) 5) Perhaps a bit of mid-life crises but is it "chicken or egg"?

Since then I don't find the same joy in the things I use to hold dear. I don't think anyone would think of me as sunny. About the only thing that snaps me out of it is my two dogs and cats. It's impossible to stay down with them around to see that I am ok.

I've wondered if I should seek professional help but don't. I keep thinking there isn't anything wrong with me a solid job wouldn't help cure. Meanwhile, I am my own worse enemy and I feel absolutely driven to raising others consciousness to what is occurring around them. If it only paid the bills.

[crispini]

28. Start taking care of yourself one thing at a time.

Pick ONE of the following and do it tomorrow. Just one.

Take your vitamins, Omega-3 fatty acids, St. John's wort, whatever.
Eat some healthy food
Go for a walk or get some exercise - ENDORPHINS are important!
Spend 20 minutes rockin out with some music
Get eight hours of sleep.

Then the next day do it again. Or do two.

And again.

And again.

it's hard, but you have to take care of yourself, the basic things like healthy eating, exercise, music, and vitamins make a BIG difference. One day at a time....

[KoKo]

24. a little kick...for more ideas ...thanks to all who posted..

:-)'s :grouphug:

[Heidi]

25. Yes,

if we are willing to recognize that suffering, and our individual ability to alleviate much of our suffering, is part of the balance. For me, living, loving, laughing and being happy now involves practicing, over and over and over:

1. Love

2. Compassion

3. Sympathetic joy

4. Equanimity

[Shine]

30. Excellent, Heidi. I totally agree.

:hi:
~Shine

[Bossy Monkey]

26. Yes, yes, yes and no, respectively

The middle two make it possible to survive without the last one.

[KoKo]

29. okay....another kick...want to get help from ALL DU'ers..

so, I'll keep a little kick. But if it dies without posts...I'll let it go. Not trying to "beat dead horses" here. :D...just to find what our community is thinking.

[Shine]

31. Great question! I believe it's challenging, in today's world, but

definitely possible, if the intention is there. Personally, I try to remain grateful for the simple blessings of my life and never take anything for granted.

Being out in nature as often as I can keeps me grounded. Sitting next to a tree, listening to the wind....

...watching the moon, being in Silence, lighting a candle...

...having a good cry...talking with a trusted friend...getting some exercise...telling someone you LOVE them....playing with my kids...

Laughing...good, deep belly laughs that make you glad to be alive....

I think to create a more peaceful world we need to create more peace within ourselves. Being in balance is key.

Thanks for bringing this up. This is a very timely and appropriate issue to be discussing as we recently marked the autumn equinox....the point of balance between Light and Dark.

:hi:
~Shine