Life and Loss and Building Sandcastles

Putting the ‘mental’ in being judgmental

 

Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

What do you say when bad things happen to good people?

This past month has been tough for some people I know. I have friends who have lost their jobs. I have some going through personal stuff with decisions to make. I have some with relationship issues. Sometimes we all have that feeling – that weary desire to give up, the anger and frustration, that feeling of “why me?” that prompts us to drink or to smoke or to listen to downbeat music like the Travis song referenced in the title. Or…er… Radiohead. Or whatever it is that people listen to nowadays that’s the equivalent of Radiohead (I’m getting old. Let’s move on.)

So what do you say to the person with bad news? The person with bad luck or heartbreak or tears in their eyes? I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong answer but here’s what I think:

It’s not what you know, or where you go…

Are we all broken?

“Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench.”

The Grand Unified Theory of Why People Suck

This is how I see your brain and the way it works. Possibly I need help. I’ve definitely watched too much TV.

As I wrote this I was sat on a plane about 10 hours from home. Since my last post I’ve spent 20 hours in the air, 8 on a train, and what feels like 500 sitting around in airports and stations waiting and thinking, so if what follows makes you think ‘wow. this guy has WAY too much time on his hands’ you’d be right.

Anyway, for anyone interesting in my last post – on why people can’t NOT be idiots at a baggage carousel, here it is: my grand unified theory of baggage.

Hell is other people getting their luggage.

Just multiply the number of people here by a thousand (my cut and pasting hand got tired). We’re talking ’80s movie ‘Zulu’. Only with luggage.

Some thoughts about Faces

One thing that interests me – and that I’ve been thinking about writing on for a couple of weeks now – is faces: how we recognize them, how we think of them, and how they affect our interaction with the world. Over the past few years I’ve realized I see the world through a ‘resemblometer’: an inbuilt thing whereby I see resemblance in everyone, and I think of new people I meet in terms of who they remind me of.

Is it weird that I see this kind of thing when I look at a baby? Maybe it is.

The ‘Tao of Doug’ Guide to a Happier Life

The Problem of Caring