Coping

People have their own ways of coping with whatever life throws at them. For instance, if work loads tend to get out of control, some people may take the time to step back and gather themselves, and others may just plow right through it and then relax afterwards. Different methods work for different people, and I would like to share my recent discovery of how I deal with one of the inevitable obstacles life throws at us: death.

When I am dealing with the death of someone close to me or, in this case, preparing for a death, I pamper myself. Over the summer there was a boy my age who passed away that I was once very close with when we were younger. Because of my work schedule, I was unable to stay for the funeral but the emotions I felt when I went to the viewing took me by surprise. Afterwards, I went to one of the antique stores downtown and bought myself a large Bible from the 1870's that I had been eying for awhile. It doesn't matter so much that it was a Bible, but it was large and quite beautiful to me. I had every intention of using it as an art piece, but it's still just sitting in my room untouched but admired. When my granny passed away a few years ago, I took myself out to lunch on the day I found out. And now, with news that my grandfather may only have a few days left to live, I've been pampering myself and dressing up more than usual. When I dress up, I feel better about myself and more confident, as if this will help me to be prepared for when the day comes that he passes away.

I cannot express enough how humanity continues to amaze me, and yet I so often overlook my own... habits I guess you could say. Everyone is so complex and it seems that only upon serious self-reflection I don't realize my own complexities. Just something to think about, I guess

When Thoughts Get The Best Of You

"The brain is the most complex thing in the universe and it's right behind the nose." ~The Science of Sleep

This quote has stuck with me. While trying to sort my own brain out, I realize it is very complex. There is no straight answer, always these loopholes and excuses that we try to get through so we can just make a decision. When the wrong decision is made, our brains try to figure out for itself what went wrong and more loopholes and excuses are created. With all of the thinking we do just to get by in our day to day lives, I'm surprised that there aren't more people in padded white rooms talking to themselves. I know that I often feel like I should be in one of those rooms.

Be prepared for your brain to betray you. All of your thoughts and fears and experiences will eventually get the best of you and the result is regret, which of course ends up staying with you for many years to come. When this happens and your mind just gets too full and too confused and you make that mistake, just remember: the people who are still willing to be with you are the ones worth keeping.

Common Sense

It's amazing when I consider what I find to be common sense compared to what the norm seems to be.

Let me elaborate.

I think it's pretty common sense, whether you believe in the "Golden Rule" or not, that you should treat others as you want to be treated. "What you get is what you give" in other words. Yet it still AMAZES me how people can be so rude and cruel to people without knowing them at all. I understand that people have bad days, and I know on some days it's not as easy to be civil to others... and that's why I usually give people 3 strikes. But really, sometimes 3 does not seem to be enough for some people, and to me that's sad. No matter what the situation, by the third encounter people should realize that your impression of them relies on what they do and say. There really are some people that no matter what you do to them or even around them, they just treat you like you're scum at the bottom of their shoes. Common sense to me would say "If I treat someone like scum, I will be treated like scum" to which I would follow by asking myself "Do I want to be scum?" If your answer to that is anything but "no" then I would suggest you re-evaluate yourself, but again that's just a suggestion.

Does rudeness really bypass common sense? Can people really be rude to others and not see anything wrong with it? So perhaps that may not count as common sense rather than general courtesy. Maybe I should have titled this "Common Sense and General Courtesy" instead... but I'm going to leave it as is because I can.