Mar 3 2013: I'm cheating (I've learned you don't have to follow rules just because they are "rules"...heh) so i'm giving another example of what important things I've learned... and that is
You* have the power to be happy. To stop worrying. To not be depressed.
That power is a magical switch you possess that you either haven't realized yet or you FORGET when you are stressed or anxious or depressed.
It is related to another thing i firmly believe: you make your own destiny.
If you KNOW you can flip that switch and DECIDE to not be depressed, REALIZE you don't have to be, and MAKE IT SO (for me, it's being creative - making something, or helping someone else, etc) you can become that which you wish to be.
As for worry - i make it a point never to waste time worrying about something i can't change by worrying. If the situation requires action, ACT. If the situation requires patience and waiting for something else to occur, then for godsakes don't fret. Get on with your happy busy life!
*unless you're chemically or clinically depressed or something, which i honestly don't have the answers for, but I would at least attempt "my" solution because it couldn't do you any harm, right?
Mar 3 2013: It doesn't matter if someone tells me something or not... i usually have to find things out on my own.
I guess the most valuable lesson is to RTFM
I can't believe I used to write and edit software manuals - including some of the first Microsoft Word manuals, the manual for the precursor to Apple's Final Cut, the Photoshop 4 manual, etc. and never actually *read* a manual to learn something —really learn something— until deciding to drop the engine out of one of my motorcycles and put it into another. THAT was an experience I still treasure.
Mar 3 2013: I think it's hysterical ... and sad ... that the word "offline" has to be stated here :) (as i have to put a sto0pid emoticon into my thoughts to show i am not as snide as it might seem without it.
Easy answer: move to the South. But for godsakes don't tell them you're a Yankee! Southerners are very open and easy to talk to. I talk to everyone. Ive never met a stranger. So part of this is foreign to me.
Hard answer... no, not an answer, per se, but a muddled thought... there's meeting a potential romantic partner... that i have failed at for -egads!-8 years now!! So from that angle i can see the plight of those who would rather be gorgeous and flirty in, say Second Life, then have to face real people as they really are.
I've heard the Frozen Food section in a supermarket is good hunting grounds... or a laundromat. Sigh...
Mar 3 2013: Based on the circumstances of a large majority of my friends — many of them fellow artists —I'd say the first thing that jumps to mind is their lack of gainful "employment" — making enough money to not only survive day to day but to pay for medical care and support themselves in their elder years.
Mar 3 2013: well we certainly haven't engaged in all out nuclear warfare ... yet.
I'd say that the HUGE majority of humans would claim anyone who considered that an option was insane. I have no idea how many people are insane.
Mar 3 2013: Yes they exist. But they are not absolute. Beyond good and evil...
Morality means different things in different cultures and different communities within those cultures. Take BDSM, Neo-Nazism, or even sex before marriage.
Mar 3 2013: Like Star Trek's Prime Directive it could be fatal to a primitive indigenous culture if our advanced world introduced them to Starbucks, McDonalds, K-Mart, much less weapons technology. Even hen we visit a fairly well-touristed country, we can certainly interfere with their natural progression.
Take for instance, Bali. Cribbing from Wikipedia:
In 1999, about 30,000 hotel rooms were available for tourists.[50] As of 2004, the island achieves over 1,000,000 visitors per year, versus an initial "planned" level of 500,000 visitors, leading to overdevelopment and environmental deterioration: "The result has been polluted and eroded beaches, shortages of water, and a deterioration "of the quality of life of most Balinese".[49][51] Political trouble has also affected the island, as the bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely affected tourism, bringing much economic hardship to the island.
Writing in 2004, Professor Adrian Vickers expressed that "the challenge of the twenty-first century will be to restore tourism while making Bali livable".[49] Tourism has strongly picked up again, with a 28% increase in the first quarter of 2008 with 446,000 arrivals.[52] By the end of 2008, tourism in Bali had fully recovered, with more than 2 million visitors, but the long term livability of Bali, plagued with overdevelopment and traffic jams, remains an issue.[53]
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The people of Bali never needed tourism to survive before as few as two decades ago. I tell my friends that one of my favorite personal beliefs about the island is my conviction that if no more tourists came ever again the island would go back to being almost purely artistic and concerned primarily with their practiced religion. But the fact remains that the West has infiltrated & left it's unmistakeable and permanent impression there
And virtual travel is just ridiculous. Who'd want to miss out on being in Bali?
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A reply on Conversation: What would you do if you weren't afraid?
So ... fears that do not protect you.
A comment on Conversation: What is the most important thing you've learned on your own?
You* have the power to be happy. To stop worrying. To not be depressed.
That power is a magical switch you possess that you either haven't realized yet or you FORGET when you are stressed or anxious or depressed.
It is related to another thing i firmly believe: you make your own destiny.
If you KNOW you can flip that switch and DECIDE to not be depressed, REALIZE you don't have to be, and MAKE IT SO (for me, it's being creative - making something, or helping someone else, etc) you can become that which you wish to be.
As for worry - i make it a point never to waste time worrying about something i can't change by worrying. If the situation requires action, ACT. If the situation requires patience and waiting for something else to occur, then for godsakes don't fret. Get on with your happy busy life!
*unless you're chemically or clinically depressed or something, which i honestly don't have the answers for, but I would at least attempt "my" solution because it couldn't do you any harm, right?
A comment on Conversation: What is the most important thing you've learned on your own?
I guess the most valuable lesson is to RTFM
I can't believe I used to write and edit software manuals - including some of the first Microsoft Word manuals, the manual for the precursor to Apple's Final Cut, the Photoshop 4 manual, etc. and never actually *read* a manual to learn something —really learn something— until deciding to drop the engine out of one of my motorcycles and put it into another. THAT was an experience I still treasure.
A comment on Conversation: How do you build offline meaningful social connections?
Easy answer: move to the South. But for godsakes don't tell them you're a Yankee! Southerners are very open and easy to talk to. I talk to everyone. Ive never met a stranger. So part of this is foreign to me.
Hard answer... no, not an answer, per se, but a muddled thought... there's meeting a potential romantic partner... that i have failed at for -egads!-8 years now!! So from that angle i can see the plight of those who would rather be gorgeous and flirty in, say Second Life, then have to face real people as they really are.
I've heard the Frozen Food section in a supermarket is good hunting grounds... or a laundromat. Sigh...
A comment on Conversation: What are the challenges that gifted and creative individuals face at present?
A comment on Conversation: Can humans resist 'opening the door' once they realize it's there?
I'd say that the HUGE majority of humans would claim anyone who considered that an option was insane. I have no idea how many people are insane.
hmmm.... how many people are insane?
A comment on Conversation: Do right and wrong exist?
Morality means different things in different cultures and different communities within those cultures. Take BDSM, Neo-Nazism, or even sex before marriage.
A comment on Conversation: How will travel change local places in the future?
Take for instance, Bali. Cribbing from Wikipedia:
In 1999, about 30,000 hotel rooms were available for tourists.[50] As of 2004, the island achieves over 1,000,000 visitors per year, versus an initial "planned" level of 500,000 visitors, leading to overdevelopment and environmental deterioration: "The result has been polluted and eroded beaches, shortages of water, and a deterioration "of the quality of life of most Balinese".[49][51] Political trouble has also affected the island, as the bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely affected tourism, bringing much economic hardship to the island.
Writing in 2004, Professor Adrian Vickers expressed that "the challenge of the twenty-first century will be to restore tourism while making Bali livable".[49] Tourism has strongly picked up again, with a 28% increase in the first quarter of 2008 with 446,000 arrivals.[52] By the end of 2008, tourism in Bali had fully recovered, with more than 2 million visitors, but the long term livability of Bali, plagued with overdevelopment and traffic jams, remains an issue.[53]
---
The people of Bali never needed tourism to survive before as few as two decades ago. I tell my friends that one of my favorite personal beliefs about the island is my conviction that if no more tourists came ever again the island would go back to being almost purely artistic and concerned primarily with their practiced religion. But the fact remains that the West has infiltrated & left it's unmistakeable and permanent impression there
And virtual travel is just ridiculous. Who'd want to miss out on being in Bali?