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Post by Phalon on Jan 9, 2012 8:37:35 GMT -6
I think maybe acceptance is only partially the reason...a very small part, actually, that may be better applied to acquaintances, but not close friends. Close friends know each others' quirks, vices, habits, the good, the bad, the ugly - the whole shebang - and accept them as being part of the person, maybe even being part of the reason, they love each other as friends. For me, I think, it's not about acceptance or rejection, it's about "getting it". It's not about criticism either, it's about understanding where I'm coming from. I may throw something out there that my friends will accept as being part of who I am, or what I think, but they might not get it....and explaining it sometimes takes a great deal of work, which can lead to going around in circles. It makes holding back a little a whole lot easier.
I'm gonna disagree with this completely. The glass half full/half empty question begs for each person to look at the evidence and draw their own conclusions; because individuals see things differently, nuances will always come into play. I am far, far, far (far, far, far to the infinite power) removed from the first person who's considered the hows and whys of it all. It's not a cut and dry question with a black and white answer for everyone. If a person sees things in black and white, I suppose it'd be easy - half-full equals optimism; half-empty means pessimism. But there's every shade of gray imaginable in-between.
Take Taoism for example (and I don't pretend to know much about it, understanding only small portions of what I read). A basic concept of Tao is that emptiness is not nothingness; a cup that is empty is inherently useful - it has the potential to be filled. It's the already filled cup that can't accept more. In that case, someone who practices Tao might look at a partially filled glass declaring it half-empty, and consider himself a optimist.
Then there's Joxie's practical view from a physical sense. Whether she's kidding or not, it's a valid way of looking at it, and is another completely different viewpoint.
I think stripping all shades of gray from the question is more problematic than conclusive. If you look at it as a black and white question without possible nuances, it's still a question of perspective. And when dealing with perspectives, there are few black and white answers.
Being a shades of gray person...
....I see it as half-empty because then I get to fill the glass with that much more conversation with you all here.
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Post by stepper on Jan 10, 2012 20:49:47 GMT -6
Well, on that we agree!
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Post by Siren on Jan 18, 2012 23:15:48 GMT -6
If you can do something with your eyes closed, it's time to find something new.
~Kathie Lee Gifford
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Post by Phalon on Jan 21, 2012 7:55:48 GMT -6
Kathy's quote reminds me of something I read last night in a book, Siren. A woman, in the frigid throes of January, has an evening to herself, so she pulls a book from the shelf and cocoons herself in a blanket to read (exactly what I did last night). She explains the idea of the book as...
"...when you are living the good and fulfilled life, you are constantly in a process and never in a static state of having arrived anywhere." ~ from The Shape of a Year by Jean Hersey
* * * *
Last week I was thumbing through a magazine and came upon a photo of the interior of a room. On the wall was a sign that had this curious little saying:
"Dim the lights and keep moving" ~ an old Creole expression
It stuck with me as being kind of a weird thing to have mounted on a wall. No amount of drilling produced anything of the expression's origins or significance.
I wonder what it means?
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Jan 24, 2012 13:51:38 GMT -6
Never tell your problems to anyone...20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.
"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."
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Post by Siren on Jan 24, 2012 21:28:02 GMT -6
Dim the lights and keep moving. You got me there, Gams! I'd be afraid of bumping into furniture. "20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them." I think I'd switch those numbers around, Scrappy. But, yeah. ~~~~~~~~ "When I'm lying there, waiting for my daughter to go to sleep, I have time to think about things. Those can be dark moments," the South African native recalled. "You ranger through, you have to. You're aware of how much you have and it's so much more than what you've lost. You have a responsibility. Life is not about dwelling on the bad." today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46116972/ns/today-entertainment/t/lara-logan-says-egypt-assault-left-her-ptsd/#.Tx92GYHfUg8~NBC news correspondent Lara Logan, who was sexually assaulted by a mob in Egypt in 2011
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Post by Phalon on Jan 25, 2012 7:35:16 GMT -6
Oh-my-gosh, Siren! It just came to me after reading the quote by Lara Logan.
"You ranger through, you have to. You're aware of how much you have and it's so much more than what you've lost. You have a responsibility. Life is not about dwelling on the bad."
Maybe "dim the lights and keep moving" means don't focus on the bad; it's in the past, and there's good ahead. Dim the lights on the bad things that happened, ranger through, and move forward with your life.
Could be way outta the ballpark with that one, but it seems to fit.
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Post by Siren on Jan 25, 2012 21:47:22 GMT -6
Gams, I think you hit it right on the head. And perhaps the quote also means that if if you dim the lights, you can't see the obstacles or what could frighten you. It's an excellent thought.
BTW, I was incorrect. Lara Logan works for CBS.
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Post by Phalon on Jan 26, 2012 10:12:21 GMT -6
Oh, I like your idea too, Siren! It just seemed to me as if the expression would have an other than literal meaning. Otherwise, why would it be an expression? I don't know if we got it right, or close even, but I think we came up with a pretty darned good explanation.
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Post by Siren on Jan 26, 2012 22:55:59 GMT -6
You're right, Gams. It could have a meaning totally away from what we think. Something random. But I have a feeling we may be on the right track.
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Post by Siren on Jan 28, 2012 9:05:15 GMT -6
I won't let myself shrink away from a challenge. While my mind is saying, "Retreat, retreat, retreat!", my heart is already there.
~Michelle Williams, Best Actress Oscar nominee for "My Week With Marilyn"
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Jan 28, 2012 11:42:22 GMT -6
"Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members -- the last, the least, the littlest." ~ Cardinal Roger Mahony
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Post by Siren on Feb 1, 2012 21:52:10 GMT -6
"In my wildest dreams I never thought...well, I never thought I'd work."
~actor Steve Carell
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Post by Siren on Feb 4, 2012 8:31:56 GMT -6
I can tell you this: it's passion, not pedigree, that can and will win in the end. Free yourself from comparison. Just because someone has fancy sneakers doesn't mean they can run faster.
~ Jon Bon Jovi
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Post by Siren on Feb 14, 2012 8:49:30 GMT -6
I don't know if he really said it (I can't find its source), but I hope he did.
"You know you are in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." ~ Dr. Seuss
Happy Valentines Day, cherubs!
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Post by Phalon on Feb 14, 2012 22:13:05 GMT -6
That's a great quote, Siren....whoever said it.
Happy Valentine's to you too, and to everyone else.
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Post by quettalee on Feb 14, 2012 23:14:18 GMT -6
That is a great one, Siren!
Hope everyone had happy hearts as well!
"Women are angels. And when someone breaks our wings, we continue to fly. On broomsticks. We're flexible like that." ~ Author unknown.
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Post by Siren on Feb 15, 2012 23:34:27 GMT -6
Glad you liked it, ladies.
Lol! I like yours too, Q.
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Post by Siren on Feb 17, 2012 9:01:24 GMT -6
Not acting your age is what keeps you young.
~tv funny lady Chelsea Handler
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Post by Phalon on Feb 18, 2012 7:09:00 GMT -6
The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity. ~ Thomas Carlyle, 19th century Scottish historian
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Post by Siren on Feb 20, 2012 0:08:54 GMT -6
Oh, I like that, Gams!
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Post by Siren on Mar 14, 2012 22:35:29 GMT -6
"It's my failure to sound like my heroes, that has allowed me to sound like myself." ~singer/songwriter John Mayer
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Post by Siren on Mar 29, 2012 7:11:48 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Mar 30, 2012 4:48:27 GMT -6
Love the quote, Siren, and thanks for the link too. I've never heard of Adrienne Rich, and don't read much poetry at all, but she sounds like she was an amazing woman, very strong in her convictions.
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Post by stepper on Mar 31, 2012 13:44:12 GMT -6
"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face." ~ Ben Williams
"No heaven will not ever Heaven be; Unless my cats are there to welcome me." ~ Anonymous (Works for me.)
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Post by Siren on Apr 1, 2012 11:50:03 GMT -6
Thanks, Gams. I was, sadly, unaware of her, too. But, yes, she was, apparently, quite a powerfulful personality.
I'm with you, Step. I can't imagine heaven without animals, particularly cats.
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Post by Siren on Apr 2, 2012 7:34:36 GMT -6
And Anne Tyler agrees about feline friends.... "I always say when I die and go to heaven, I'm going to have an 11-year-old daughter and a new cat and I'm going to be in the middle of a book. I'm just trying to get there." ~author Anne Tyler, whose latest book, "The Beginner's Goodbye", hits stores tomorrow www.npr.org/2012/03/30/148926821/the-art-of-the-everyday-the-alchemy-of-anne-tylerI love it that she anticipates having an 11-year-old daughter. That is a great age, isn't it? In my heaven, I'll have one, too. And the new cat.
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Post by stepper on Apr 2, 2012 21:14:02 GMT -6
I'd settle for joining up with the family and pets who are already there.
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Post by Siren on Apr 4, 2012 20:00:35 GMT -6
That's a whole discussion to itself, Step. What will heaven be like? Some people see it as one big reunion, come Judgement Day. But if I'm reunited with everyone, I'd want to be with my granny as I remember her. Does that mean she'd have to be 80 years old for eternity? Maybe in her heaven, she'd be a young woman, and I wouldn't know her at all. Will each person have their own idyllic heaven? If it is one big reunion, will we be aware of the ones who don't make it there? Or, is heaven having everyone we want, while those in hell know whom they are missing?
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Post by stepper on Apr 16, 2012 21:43:02 GMT -6
You're right of course Siren, there's much to be said and much that we don't know. I suspect that what we now think of as idyllic will change or the conflicts about what is idyllic to different people wouldn't be resolved - otherwise things wouldn't be so idyllic.
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