Category: Thinkings and poems

NYTimes: The Upside of Envy

The Upside of Envy https://nyti.ms/2FLaNXE

Imo

At therapist with some 30 years of experience recently confided to me that of all the themes his clients found difficult to delve into — sex included — there was no tougher nut to crack than envy. Aristotle described envy not as benign desire for what someone else possesses but “as the pain caused by the good fortune of others.” Not surprisingly these pangs often give way to a feeling of malice. Witness the fact that throughout history and across cultures, anyone who enjoyed a piece of good fortune feared and set up defenses against the “evil eye.” Of course, there is not much talk today about the evil eye, at least not in the West, but it surely isn’t because we are less prone to envy than our ancestors.

In his essay “On Envy,” the philosopher Francis Bacon wrote, “Of all other affections, it is the most importune and continual. For of other affections there is occasion given but now and then; and therefore it was well said, ‘Invidia festos dies non agit.’ ” That is, “Envy keeps no holidays.”

A

Justice for all

To make A levels a true measure of achievement not linked to the relative wealth of the family all children in the United Kingdom and their parents at birth and brought up in large each class will contain equal numbers of children from the rich and the poor and some from the middle and in this way all the children will be equal especially in terms of their diet

It will be easy to see when they reach 18 which ones are are able to do the most brilliant work such as working out percentages, compound interest, reading Enid blyton, passing grade 1 on the piano and be able to fry bacon

This seems to indicate that the people who are sorted this clown are actually stupid.

Working out percentages anybody could do that and ask for compound interest with the economy in the condition it’s in even simple interest will be very soon.

Thank you Liz truss for contributing to a programme on “am I a genius?”

All punctuation chosen by batman

They will love the cold air

Gaelic its never die quote says it all

And if you don’t remember

Because you were not appalledq

Remember the people who were treated like pigs or even weeds

Their deaths were nothing to remember

Because we’ve seen it all so many times before

What is the saying about the Jews?

Why did you lie?I went to

sleep in I guess the gas chamber, the chamber of horrors

But we’re not in a fairground we’re in real life

Hi we’re going to die of Cold

That monster on horseback followed by 1000 polar bears

They will feast on the dead British and put the electricity company out of business

Even winter air is warm to them

They will become the royal family

And we will not need a parliament

A parliament of polar bears; it’s better than one of fools

How to make yourself better in health and mind.

Some recent discoveries might help you you with getting older feeling depressed or being excessively bored

If you live in a house which is old and the wiring is old don’t worry about getting electric shocks because it’s been proved that getting mild electric shocks can make it less likely for you to develop dementia. You will just have to hope that the shock you get from your ancient wiring it’s not enough to do you serious harm.

If you survive congratulate yourself because your brain is now less likely to deteriorate.

You remember the quotation

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

I don’t know to whom as a tribute

Next, we know that children who grow up on farms have a better immune system than children raised in town So it would it be a good idea to let your home become rather dirty

I remember in Thomas Hardy s novel Far from the madding crowd that a man drops his sandwich on the floor of the public house then picks it up up.and eats it saying

It’s only clean dirt

Feet in sea edge

In a cotton dress by Morecambe Bay
On Arnside’s little beach below the Knott
I stand  where sea and sand on my feet play

My feet  enjoy the water, ripples,rays
I remember this, the waters fret
In a cotton dress in Morecambe Bay

We see the Barrow Train, the River flows
Feel the pebbles  slippery,cool and wet
I stand  where sea and sand on my feet play

As the sun sank,  Grange and Cartmel glowed
The Priory’s ruins  paid  all beauty’s debt
I love my dress, in sun, in Morecambe Bay

My bony feet look thin, the water sways
I wish I could dissolve,skin  holds me back
I stand  where sea and sand on my feet play

Moments of great beauty guard the track
We may forget the sea shells splintered wrack.
In a cotton dress my mother made
I loved  where sea and sand on my feet played

 

 

 

The Right Way to Say ‘I’m Sorry’

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/well/mind/the-right-way-to-say-im-sorry.html

T

In the very first chapter of her new book, “Why Won’t You Apologize?,” Dr. Lerner points out that apologies followed by rationalizations are “never satisfying” and can even be harmful.

“When ‘but’ is tagged on to an apology,” she wrote, it’s an excuse that counters the sincerity of the original message. The best apologies are short and don’t include explanations that can undo them.

Nor should a request 

Why revenge?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/smarter-living/how-to-turn-toxic-emotions-into-positive-actions.html

Whether we want to admit it, revenge is a bona fide motivator. But is it healthy?

Well … yes and no.

“In novels and movies, revenge turns out to be this great cleansing moment that permits someone who’s been abused to triumph,” said Peg Streep, a science writer and author of “Mean Mothers: Overcoming the Legacy of Hurt.”

“Revenge works well in plot lines because there’s something very satisfying about a tit-for-tat payback, especially in a world that isn’t always fair,” she said.

It may pay to pray

Dr Robinson went in town

Wearing his new dressing gown

Dr Robinsons a very silly man

He has no hat so he wears a pan

And the waiting room is full again today

They all wonder what the doctor’s going to wear

He goes to bed in a three-piece suite.

It may be very clumsy but it looks quite neat

He married a young lady call Diane

When they got married they each wore a pan

They wanted to have children if not know the way

They’d never heard of sex and both of them gay

They got a quick divorce and what else can I say?

The future is not fiction and it may pay to pray

A joy again

I may be wounded but I’m still alive

Ill live right to the end complete, engaged.

A sparrow is as lovely as a hawk

God created creatures that could stalk.

Every form of wildness is a stage

With gentle doves and tigers in a rage.

In our very self we find them all

Cruelty greed and happiness enthrall.

So we love the wild ones and the tame

All the world’s a stage,a joy a game

Relaxing Is a Skill. Here’s How to Do It.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/opinion/relaxing-muscles-skills.html

This might sound like New Age nonsense, but the benefits of muscle relaxation have been studied for decades, and research has found that versions of the practice may mitigate a wide range of physical and mental conditions — among them generalized anxiety disorder, hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, chronic pain, postpartum depression, some symptoms of schizophrenia, some side effects of cancer treatment, stress among students and anger and aggression

Stan meetings his M.P.

Stan was thinking of going to an Evening Class.He got a brochure from the public library but there was not much in it.As he was sitting in his conservatory brooding restlessly over this he saw a looming shape pass by.It was Annie, his neighbour wearing a big rucksack.
“Annie,you are usually dressed in a fashionable and stylish even modish manner.Whence the rucksack?”
“Oh,well,you’re out of touch.Rucksacks are the new handbags according to Prada.”
“Is Prada that young lady who has just taken the flat over the florist’s?”
“No,you nincompoop,Prada is an Italian Fashion Company”.
“I think Prada would make a good name for a cat or Prado if he was a male cat.What do you think,Emile?Would you like to be called Prado?”
“Definitely not.” miaowed Emile loudly.”Prado is too full of consonants for me.I don’t like say.ing “P.”
“He sayeth not P but doeth it,just as the Prophet foretold” Stan murmured merrily to Annie.”What are you doing?” she asked him pointedly.
“I’m choosing an Evening Class but there are not many on offer.I wanted to learn Pilates but maybe I’m too old and stiff!”
“We could go to a private class in the Conservative Club.”
“I can’t go in there,not even to learn Pilates.”
The doorbell rang.It was their local M.P. Andy Pandy.
“Good evening,Sir.”
“It’s only 10 am,”Stan said rudely.
“Wait I want to record your words.”
“Why is that?”
“I may be able to sell them on-line.”
“Oh,no.That’s unlikely.I’m only a glove puppet!”
“That wasn’t what you said before the Election” Stan whispered to him.
“Well.I didn’t realise then.I thought I was a human being.”
“Like David Cameron once did?”
“Yes,only I don’t speak so posh.”
“But do you think he is a glove puppet too?”
“Yes,definitely.I’ve seen the Hand that manipulates him.”
“Why don’t you leave?”
“I have thirty children to support.”
“How come you have so many?”
“Oh,it’s quite easy if you have plenty of lovely lady friends and …”
“I’m talking about responsibility.You are a member of the Establishment.”
“Well,once I was a rebel.But a Famous Rebel will eventually be knighted.”

“So I’ve noticed.” {He’s thinking of Sir Michael Jagger who is 74]
“Why was Lucian Freud not knighted?Surely he was a deserving artist.”
“He was more of an Observing Artist.He Observed what he shouldn’t!”
“What was that?”
That very large people are beautiful like rocks in canyons and caves.and the Queen looks like an old East Ender.”
“Do you think she’s partly Jewish?”
“Well,everyone in the world has a little Jewish blood!”
“So the Queen does”
“Does she know?”
“Well it doesn’t matter whether she knows.I’m just interested.After all she’s the Head of the Anglican Church, a branch of Christianity, so as Jesus was 100% Jewish it would be an advantage to her.She might be a distant relation to him.”
“I never knew Jesus was Jewish!”
“Oh,yes I remember now.And the shepherds with their flocks….was that not here in England?”
” No and King Herod wasn’t English.Herod’s never been a very popular name anywhere really.But you know everybody in the world is probably slightly English.Just listen to them talk!They all speak the lingo.”
“But what about that song “Jerusalem” by Blake?”
“Was not Jerusalem builded here,in England’s green and pleasant land?”
“He was speaking in symbols or metaphors.”
“Why didn’t he learn English?Cymbals are just for banging.”
“Well, he was English.!”
“He was crazy.That’s typical English trait.”
“Yes,we love eccentrics.”
“Do you know any?”
“Not as such,no. But I’d love one if they lived next door.”
“Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather.when I heard that.”
“Well,Annie is a bit eccentric.”Stan thought.”She’s murdered her husband and seduced me in front of the wife.”
“No,she’s just got borderline personality disorder.I wonder who invents all these new mental disorders?”
“Well,the mind doctors need to earn money.”
“True…. send them to Afghanistan.Then we’ll see who has PTSD!”
“Now,there’s a thought!

All are one,it shall be so

Gently dancing in the sun
Wildflowers grow;
they bloom,
are gone.

With no thoughts,they have no cares;
Yet their lives are gentle prayers.
May I walk in such a way
That I am alive to this day.

So I see with widening view,
And joy and sorrows embrace too.
Then my time will come like yours...
And of us no part endures.

As to the earth our bodies go,
All are one;it shall be so

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