Liking Reality

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#1
To tell you the truth, I nowadays like reality. Back in the day I used to so painfully and desperately want to escape reality. But much to my surprise I nowadays like reality. Instead of watching movies, I prefer to immerse myself in real-life activities. I have to stay alive because I have so many more things to accomplish. Yes, even in my 60s as I am, I still have many more things to accomplish.
Actually I did not have much I wanted to say in this post. The real reason I posted this was just so that I could use the title "Liking Reality" because just the thought of it surprises me so much that I wanted to share it.
 

Daphna

Ninja of light
#2
To tell you the truth, I nowadays like reality. Back in the day I used to so painfully and desperately want to escape reality. But much to my surprise I nowadays like reality. Instead of watching movies, I prefer to immerse myself in real-life activities. I have to stay alive because I have so many more things to accomplish. Yes, even in my 60s as I am, I still have many more things to accomplish.
Actually I did not have much I wanted to say in this post. The real reason I posted this was just so that I could use the title "Liking Reality" because just the thought of it surprises me so much that I wanted to share it.
That’s fantastic. Thank you for sharing!
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#5
At first, I had intended to make a single post because I just wanted to use the title "Liking Reality" because it sums up in a nutshell how I generally feel nowadays. But then I realized I should keep adding to this thread because I might get new insights.
For example I should clarify that when I say I like reality that it does not mean that everything is a bed of roses. After all, painful woes will befall me occasionally. It happens to everybody. So the point is the ability to cope.

Because I believe I have solved my toughest problem of all--a dream which came true this past December as I've already described in a separate thread. To me it was as though I made the Impossible come true--which is what actually happened when seen in terms of how I used to be suicidal. So yes I would say the impossible came true. But I had to make it happen.
 
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Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#6
One thing I cannot understand is why people feel the need to drink alcohol in order to feel happy. Because to me the high that one gets from alcohol is an artificial joy, a fake joy. Why would we need a chemical substance to make ourselves happy when we can create that joy by ourselves? And for me, that joy obviously comes from my accomplishments.
 

Wary

SF Supporter
#7
One thing I cannot understand is why people feel the need to drink alcohol in order to feel happy. Because to me the high that one gets from alcohol is an artificial joy, a fake joy. Why would we need a chemical substance to make ourselves happy when we can create that joy by ourselves? And for me, that joy obviously comes from my accomplishments.
I guess It is a legal way to escape reality. Have to say, I have never liked the artificial high and artificial low that follows. Addiction is a complicated path of self destruction/slow suicide.
Your post is inspiring. I admit I use movies for escapism at the moment, to the detriment of doing much else.
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#10
Despite the heavy woes of the corona crisis, I surprisingly found a cheerful benefit. That is-- compared with Pre-crisis when the buses were always crowded with standing room only-- but now during the corona, there are so many vacant seats that l can so easily find one to use. Even during the most trying of times a sunflower can be found. For me--finding a vacant seat on the bus is a luxury!
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#11
What I found very strange was a video I saw online about an American who visited a reclusive Buddhist monk in China who isolates himself far away in a mountainous area in a cave. His ascetic lifestyle is one of a Hermit who lives a life of solitude. Visiting the Hermit, the American interviewed him about his spiritual quest.
At one point the Buddhist monk made a statement that totally baffles me. He said that Pleasure and Pain are the same. Now those two words are total diametric opposites of each other, so how can they be the same? Maybe some of you can venture a guess and post it here. The way I see it--and this is just my guess-- is that maybe I am already practicing that idea because nowadays I am better able to shake off pain, to tolerate it. Of course that tolerance has been developed from my practice of meditation. The reality is that everybody has pain and hardship. All of us do. What the Buddhist monk said is that we "grow from our difficulties."
Human life is a spiritual walk. In the process of meeting our hardships and taking them on, we grow spiritually. That's why the Buddhist monk said "we grow from our difficulties."
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#13
@VioletDawn
From what you described of your emotional state I surmise that you might have Asperger's Syndrome or Autism. Because you say you are deathly afraid of leaving your house. If it's Asperger's Syndrome, you would benefit from cognitive therapy or biofeedback. Because I myself see a therapist on a regular basis, and it definitely helps.
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#14
Although melancholy from the stress of worry, I still went to the clinic today for my social activities. I did my activities half-heartedly but when I went home I did so with a sense of accomplishment. And it's that sense of accomplishment that makes the whole day worthwhile.
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#15
The word for today is Adaptability. Because in everyday life we run into unexpected changes. So we have to learn how to adapt to unexpected situations if we are to survive. Adapt and survive. Adaptability.
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#16
What's great is that I know how to journal. That is, to put my thoughts and emotions on paper. Some of them are much too personal to post here on the Forum so I put them in my private journal. What saved me was that I've learned how to think outside the box so offbeat-type thoughts came into my head and is how my most difficult problem got solved. And it was also Luck that happened at just the right time. But how Luck blessed me was because I had persevered and persisted so that I was there at the right time.
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#18
There is a difference between privation and deprivation. Deprivation is for example when somebody loses his eyesight and becomes totally blind. On the other hand, privation is if he was totally blind from birth.

In retrospect looking back at my time during the 1960's I had a particular Privation which I nowadays realize turned out as good in the long run, because I nowadays find contentment in something which won't satisfy most people, because it's Non-electronic. Back in the 60s of course, the particular privation felt awful. But if not for the privation, then I could not have developed my character as I have. So now I see the pain and privation is good because of what it produced in the long run. It could be also seen as turning bad luck into good luck. Because of the painful privation I had to develop ingenuity. The ultimate thrill is when I finally came up with the ingenious idea that made my Ultimate Dream come true.
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#19
@Swift Quill
You were saying, Swift Quill, that much of your emotional desolation is caused by your lifestyle that is monotonous.

Actually sometimes monotony is confused with repetition. Because there is a difference between repetitive and repetitious. Although both words refer to repetition but the difference is that repetitive simply means that things repeat themselves whereas repetitious refers to repetition that is meaningless, boring, or tedious.
In my case my lifestyle is repetitive but not repetitious. Not repetitious or monotonous because what I do is meaningful. So your daily routine can be repetitive but need not be repetitious.
 

Winslow

My Toughest Problem Has Been Solved.
SF Supporter
#20
After my Ultimate Dream came true in December of last year (2019), I don't envy anybody. I have 2 other things I want and cannot get, but it's alright, I can survive without them because I at least have the main thing which I've always wanted.
So I'm contented--what I have is enough now. So I don't envy. Don't have to.
 

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