We need to lighten up

G

GeorgiaXplant

Well-known Member
Location
Georgia
especially in these times! Now, I realize that we all, or at least most of us, are feeling a tad (or more) disgruntled, anxious, stressed. Our backs hurt. Our arthritis is painful. We don't do and go and be as we used to, but geez, guys! Getting up in the morning and expecting the worst doesn't make anything better.

Can we make allowances for people? Can we be a little more forgiving? A little less rigid? How about we assume the best of others. Yanno...everybody has a story, and we know ours, but we don't know theirs. How about we start out by just being, well, pleasant. Nice. Cheerful.

Life's tough right now? Every night when we go to bed we can say we made it through another day and are that much closer to a resolution. We can get up in the morning grateful for another day to make things better.

I'm not a particularly religious person but Proverbs 17:22 says it best: A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.
 

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GeorgiaXplant said:
especially in these times! Now, I realize that we all, or at least most of us, are feeling a tad (or more) disgruntled, anxious, stressed. Our backs hurt. Our arthritis is painful. We don't do and go and be as we used to, but geez, guys! Getting up in the morning and expecting the worst doesn't make anything better.

Can we make allowances for people? Can we be a little more forgiving? A little less rigid? How about we assume the best of others. Yanno...everybody has a story, and we know ours, but we don't know theirs. How about we start out by just being, well, pleasant. Nice. Cheerful.

Life's tough right now? Every night when we go to bed we can say we made it through another day and are that much closer to a resolution. We can get up in the morning grateful for another day to make things better.

I'm not a particularly religious person but Proverbs 17:22 says it best: A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.
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You seem like a beautiful lady! Thank you!
 
"Lighten up", what the heck does that mean???? With what's going on now in America, it's extremely hard to "lighten up". Wildfires, protesters burning/looting, the virus. Every Monday AM, when I look at opening page of the internet, there is so much crime of shootings/killings it's unbelievable.

IOW, in some places of America, people just can't, and won't, get along.
 
ClassicRockr said:
"Lighten up", what the heck does that mean???? With what's going on now in America, it's extremely hard to "lighten up". Wildfires, protesters burning/looting, the virus. Every Monday AM, when I look at opening page of the internet, there is so much crime of shootings/killings it's unbelievable.

IOW, in some places of America, people just can't, and won't, get along.
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Lighten up= no need to focus on every bit of negative news coming your way, nothing has changed under the Sun these days, just the ability to bombard the mind 24/7 with attention-getting NEWS. No need to take all the negativity to Heart, so much good an peace going on, that never gets covered because news media thrives on getting your attention to make money. I like just plain Google search for my browser start page, that way I don't get "fed" content that's designed to keep folks stirred up.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
especially in these times! Now, I realize that we all, or at least most of us, are feeling a tad (or more) disgruntled, anxious, stressed. Our backs hurt. Our arthritis is painful. We don't do and go and be as we used to, but geez, guys! Getting up in the morning and expecting the worst doesn't make anything better.

Can we make allowances for people? Can we be a little more forgiving? A little less rigid? How about we assume the best of others. Yanno...everybody has a story, and we know ours, but we don't know theirs. How about we start out by just being, well, pleasant. Nice. Cheerful.

Life's tough right now? Every night when we go to bed we can say we made it through another day and are that much closer to a resolution. We can get up in the morning grateful for another day to make things better.

I'm not a particularly religious person but Proverbs 17:22 says it best: A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.
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thank you for posting this.
 
The same applies to some of the snarky remarks I've seen here when someone innocently comments on something and a few people seem to delight in making sarcastic responses. It boggles the mind as to why it would be make someone feel good about doing this. I am not talking about some remarks that are really laugh out loud responses. Everyone is different and we do not see things in with the same set of eyes. Good to remember this.
 
ClassicRockr said:
"Lighten up", what the heck does that mean???? With what's going on now in America, it's extremely hard to "lighten up". Wildfires, protesters burning/looting, the virus. Every Monday AM, when I look at opening page of the internet, there is so much crime of shootings/killings it's unbelievable.

IOW, in some places of America, people just can't, and won't, get along.
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true but it's no reason to take it out on others who are not at fault. That's been very noticeable as of late. Especially online. Not saying you did anything just in general.
 
As I move through the autumn of my life, "lightening up" is not an option. My time grows short and I need to make it count. If I feel a need to rail about climate change, racism, man's inhumanity to man, the pain we inflict on other species, the destruction of our planet, and whatever else I think needs fixing, I speak my mind.

As it happens, I am indeed disgruntled, anxious, stressed, plenty rigid and not terribly forgiving, when it comes to these issues. Nor would I ever want to be.

When I read thinly disguised racism, homophobia or other hatefulness, I will continue call people out on it. Life is too short to pretend everyone has good motives or that all is sunshine and lollipops.

Just as I proudly acknowledge my great-grandmother's stance when she marched for women's voting rights, I want my grandchildren to know that before exiting this life I will do what I can to help nudge the needle of progress forward a bit.

For the sake of future generations, I will not go quietly, cheerfully nor gently into that final good night.
 
ClassicRockr said:
"Lighten up", what the heck does that mean???? With what's going on now in America, it's extremely hard to "lighten up". Wildfires, protesters burning/looting, the virus. Every Monday AM, when I look at opening page of the internet, there is so much crime of shootings/killings it's unbelievable.

IOW, in some places of America, people just can't, and won't, get along.
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In other words not much has changes over the past 60 years. Savoy Brown lyric to one song, "just lie back and unwind."
 
ClassicRockr said:
"Lighten up", what the heck does that mean???? With what's going on now in America, it's extremely hard to "lighten up". Wildfires, protesters burning/looting, the virus. Every Monday AM, when I look at opening page of the internet, there is so much crime of shootings/killings it's unbelievable.

IOW, in some places of America, people just can't, and won't, get along.
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Yup. Extremely hard to lighten up. And that's exactly why we need to.
 
No need to pretend. It's there. Of course we'll continue to call people out on it, but that doesn't mean that we all have to don hair shirts and live every moment with a black cloud of gloom hanging over our heads. No, life isn't all rainbows and unicorn farts. We should all savor every birdsong, every sunny day, every flower, anything from which we can derive even a second of joy. Heaven knows we need it.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
but that doesn't mean that we all have to don hair shirts and live every moment with a black cloud of gloom hanging over our heads.
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Huh?
I don't know why you say "we all" have a black cloud of doom over our heads. That's simply not true. Maybe YOU'RE the one who needs to lighten up. You've been a member here 7 yrs; you should know your way around.
Explore the threads in Entertainment, Animal Antics, Games, etc. 😀 Good luck!
 
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StarSong said:
As I move through the autumn of my life, "lightening up" is not an option. My time grows short and I need to make it count. If I feel a need to rail about climate change, racism, man's inhumanity to man, the pain we inflict on other species, the destruction of our planet, and whatever else I think needs fixing, I speak my mind.

As it happens, I am indeed disgruntled, anxious, stressed, plenty rigid and not terribly forgiving, when it comes to these issues. Nor would I ever want to be.

When I read thinly disguised racism, homophobia or other hatefulness, I will continue call people out on it. Life is too short to pretend everyone has good motives or that all is sunshine and lollipops.

Just as I proudly acknowledge my great-grandmother's stance when she marched for women's voting rights, I want my grandchildren to know that before exiting this life I will do what I can to help nudge the needle of progress forward a bit.

For the sake of future generations, I will not go quietly, cheerfully nor gently into that final good night.
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Well said, Star! I agree.
 

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