Lately a lot of things have been getting me down… not feeling so good about the current state of the economy… worried about the state of the company I work for (worried for what I can only rationally call “unfounded reasons”)… worried about misc issues with my personal husband/wife interactions… worried that I’m packing on a couple pounds again (not that I couldn’t stand to gain a few)… worried about the whole terrorism thing… just worried about a lot of things all combining to make me a most unhappy monkey…
anyhow…
tonight I’m sitting around, watching BladeII on dvd (not a terribly good movie, but it’s a lot of fun to watch a very muscular Wesley Snipes do some nice martial arts… although too many of those arts are CGI)… and I’m thinking about tomorow(9/11), how I’m taking the morning off work to watch news footage and presidential speaches etc, and I’m just not feeling so hot about everything in general…
then, most unexpectedly, my cute little kitty (“snowshoe” persian for those that may be curious), decides to hop up onto my lap/chest (I was reclining in my desk chair at the time) and cuddle with me… for no good reason, my kitty decided at that moment to lay back and ask to have her tummy scratched while I craddled her in my arms… it sort of made me realize that there are still things that aren’t so bad, even things worth looking forward too…
so like I said… this is sappy… my cute little kitty purring in my arms gave me a temporary ray of hope and happiness… I figured others out there might be feeling a little stressed out right now too, so I might as well share my own little personal happiness…
sappy, yes… silly, yes… but I felt like writing for a little while…
anyone else have something that gives them hope that they want to share? I could use a few stories…
Pets are great. Our springer spaniel Phyllis was a great comfort to me a year ago, and I suspect that having her and her little sister Dottie with me tomorrow (in light of my own array of little stresses that are adding up) will be twice as nice.
A dog’s nose in the palm of your hand is great therapy . . .
When I’m driving in the late afternoon, sunshine through the windscreen makes me grin like an idiot. I just can’t help it.
No matter how crappy the day or how tired I’m feeling, that bright golden warmth through the glass makes me feel better. I don’t even realise I’m feelin’ better until I notice that I’m suddenly smiling widely.
There’s something enormously comforting about cruising along by myself with my music playing, as the sun shines down. Things are never as bad as they seem.
It seems that my loyal kitty knows I’m not feeling so hot right now… she’s been no more that 6 feet from me all night, more regularly, it’s no more than 6 inches…
let me know what is making you feel good… I’m doing my own personal emotional boosting things, I have some great James Brown and Bob Marley I can click on… but I’m needing more… hopefully from my fellow dopers, what do you do to feel a little more up…
please, someone else kick out a few comments to make me feel better… my kitty is making me feel a lot better, but not better enough… help me out…
There was a piece in the New Yorker a few months ago about people studying facial expressions. One surprising thing they found was that making a facial expression can cause you to feel the emotion associated with that expression.
The only experiment I can recall of the top of my head was one in which they took two groups of people and had them watch a set of cartoons. (Bugs Bunny or some such.) Group A had to watch the cartoons while holding pens in their lips–which prevents one from smiling. Group B watched them while holding pens in their teeth–which forces one to smile.
Group B rated the cartoons far funnier.
So smile! It sounds like incredibly stupid and shallow advice, but apparently it works.