Science, Religion, Politics and in the pursuit of truth – HappyPsychotic

The Ups and Downs of Life

// June 30th, 2008 // No Comments » // GlenncloseAuthor: Glenn Name: Glenn C
Email: happypsychotic@gmail.com
Site: http://www.happypsychotic.com
About: Glenn is 36 years old and now lives in a small town in Northern Ontario with his wife of 13 years and 2 kids. He has been a foster parent for 10 years in 3 different cities. He graduated from Radio College of Canada (Toronto) in 1993 as an Electronic Engineering Technologist and has been working in the electronics industry ever since with companies like Nortel. Glenn does a good amount of reading, studying and thinking about such topics as philosophy, psychology, physics (Quantum Mechanics), religion and science. Glenn does have an I.Q. of > 140 (as does Chris) which is categorized as genius but hasn't bothered joining any I.Q. type clubs. He is very logical and analytical and always looking for a way to make a better world - primarily through self-improvement and in helping others to improve themselves. Most importantly, he constantly re-evaluates his priorities and ensures his time is spent wisely - like working on this site.See Authors Posts (92)

For many years I have tried to live my life on a very even keel. I don’t get too depressed or angry about anything, and I also don’t get too excited or wild about anything. Once I read the book Shogun, I thought I had found the perfect justification for this type of life. The book talks about samurai warriors in ancient Japan and how they were able to be calm in any type of situation. It didn’t matter to them if they were standing in a freezing cold wind and rain, or facing certain death, they remained calm and composed. I really admired that type of self discipline. My wife kept telling me to be more passionate about life but I just simply disagreed.

Recently I’ve changed this viewpoint. You see, the problem has been that life just drags on slowly with this point of view. When I keep my expectations low about an upcoming event, I have nothing to look forward to, so life becomes pretty depressing. Sure, by not getting excited about an upcoming event that turns into a dud, I protect myself from disappointment, but I have found that when the event turns out to be even more fun than I anticipated, I have missed out on much of the possible, previous excitement.

Anyways, I have now decided to allow myself to get really excited about anything that sounds fun. I let myself dream about how great it’s going to be. It’s like waiting for Christmas presents as a kid – it sometimes ends up being more fun than the actual presents you get. This way, if I have a fun event planned for the weekend, I can allow myself to get all excited all week at work, and work doesn’t seem so bad this way. Sure, the event might suck in the end and I’ll be really disappointed and possible spiral into a depression, but I think the pros outweigh the cons.

So say hello to the new me, somebody who is becoming more passionate, more wild, more unpredictable, and more enjoying of life!

And tell me something…do any of you out there find yourself changing and experimenting with different approaches to life as I do? I can’t think of anyone I know that is bold like this, but if you are one of these people, let’s talk. OK?

By the way, sorry about this site being so slow. Chris is really busy with work right now and is not able to fix it up. We’ll get to it as soon as possible.