By admin
We all know it’s unhealthy to keep frustrations bottled up inside. It’s much better for you mentally, emotionally, and physically if you rid yourself of them by venting. Afterwards, you feel so much better! And stress is probably the number one killer in today’s society. It aggravates existing health conditions and creates new ones. It makes you lose sleep. It causes stupid, unnecessary arguments in the home and workplace. And for what? Some stupid little problem that you have blown up in your mind, which is getting way more attention than it warrants.
You are generating negative energy in your environment when you do this. And we know that the issue is something small and stupid. How? Because after you finally vent it magically goes away. Amazing! This thing that was like a boulder about to be dropped on you and crush your entire world simply stops existing simply because you talked about it to somebody, and shared your feelings about it with them. No more looming boulder, just happy sunshine and bluebirds singing.
What happened to that boulder? Take a look at the person who just listened to you vent. It is now perched precariously over their heads. A few minutes a go they had sunshine and bluebirds, full of enthusiasm and willing to listen to your problem and try to help. Well they helped all right - your problem is gone and they now have it.
At least that’s the way it works with spouses and significant others. When it’s somebody you love, the only way to get them over the thing they are upset about is to take it from them so that you now have it. They are then happy and skipping and you are now slumped over and dejected, awaiting doomsday. It happens every time.
This is an amazing aspect of human nature. We aren’t supposed to sweat the small stuff, but we do anyway. When we get something in our mind that is bothering us, it can grow until it becomes all-consuming. Even when we know that the thing is stupid and doesn’t deserve the attention we are giving it. I mean, we can keep saying to ourselves over and over again don’t sweat the small stuff, this is no big deal, etc. but we don’t stop. We refuse to let ourselves be our own psychiatrist.
No, the only way out is venting. And unfortunately the person we vent to is usually our spouse. We get relief at the expense of their becoming burdened. There ought to be people in the phone book you can look up to go vent at. OK, there are - they are called therapists and they are very expensive! I meant somebody who didn’t go to college for 6 years. Somebody cheap. Maybe the homeless guy on the corner will listen for a couple of bucks.
Papa Riah
Technorati Tags: Society, Marraige, Relationships
By admin
The media is very fond of telling us about the bad economy every time we turn around. How does that make you feel? Like going out and buying new furniture and then going out to dinner? Or like withdrawing all your money from the bank and hiding it in a cracker box? For most people it’s the latter. And you know why, right? You got it - because most people are mindless drones who don’t think for themselves and allow everything they hear and see to program their behavior. In short, most people are idiots. (I know you aren’t one of them or you wouldn’t be here reading my blog.)
It just so happens that Mama Riah and I went out a couple weeks ago and bought a new couch before going out to dinner. The furniture store was packed. They were selling stuff left and right. The nightly news would have me think that these places are nailing boards over the entrance as all the employees get into a 27-mile long unemployment line. But that’s not what is happening if you get off your butt and go look around for yourself.
However that doesn’t mean that a bad economy isn’t right around the corner. A real bad economy. One where credit dries up completely and people actually do stop spending. What you have seen so far ain’t nothing folks. Things could get bad. Real bad. And you know how that could happen, right? The media keeps pounding and pounding the idea of how bad things are until it resonates inside everyone’s brains and then people become scared. In other words, we all get brainwashed into a bad economy.
For some people this has already happened. In our local news last week there was a story about an elderly lady who heard the news about possible bank failures so she promptly withdrew all her money in cash. She stashed an envelope containing $10,000 in a cracker box. For some inexplicable reason she then decided that she didn’t want the crackers and would rather have the $2.63 cents back that she spent for them, no doubt because of the scary bad economy news stories.
You can guess the rest. She glued to top back together and returned the cracker box to the market and got back her $2.63. After a couple days she realized her mistake and went to the store to ask for her crackers back, explaining the situation. They told her that returned food boxes go back to the manufacturer and that she likely had lost her money.
By some miracle the cracker box got put back on the shelf and purchased by an extremely honest family who returned the box to the store and reported the found money. So the crazy old cracker lady got her money back (and didn’t bother offering a reward), but that isn’t the point of this story.
It is this: If you hear that the economy is bad and that information alters your behavior, you will be responsible for helping to create a worse economy than the present situation (whatever that may be). In my opinion the present situation isn’t bad at all, based upon what I observe around me. Take it from an out-of-work sub-prime mortgage lender! However if we allow ourselves to be brainwashed into a bleak picture of things, it will become our reality. Just ask the crazy cracker lady.
Papa Riah
By admin
What would you call a bunch of Christmas carolers who showed up on your doorstep and demanded money? Terrorists? By legal definition that is what they are. Now what if it isn’t money they are demanding, but something else of value? It makes no difference from the legal definition of terrorism - if they invade your property and place demands on you and will not leave at your request, that is terrorism. Even if they are only demanding food. In fact, what if this obnoxious group demanded a specific kind of food, some rare dish that you have never even seen - and refused to go away until you gave it to them?
If all this is starting to sound all too familiar, it’s because it’s real. Not only is this real, but a popular Christmas carol is composed of lyrics describing this exact terrorist stand-off situation. And every year thousands upon thousands of carolers invade neighbor’s property reciting this song! It is, of course, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Oh the song starts out innocently enough. It even sounds warm and friendly, your neighbors stopping by to pour a blessing on you and wish you well.
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin;
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year!
Very nice, huh? Even if they did interrupt your favorite show. Such nice folks. But hold on - things are about to take a very unexpected turn. Just as you want to smile, wave, thank them and close the door, you get blindsided with sudden demands:
Now bring us some figgy pudding
Now bring us some figgy pudding
Now bring us some figgy pudding
And bring it right here!
Whoa! Where did that come from? Are they serious? They are demanding a certain strange food that nobody has ever seen or tasted. Unless you have a fig tree in your backyard, this is a ridiculous request! Before you can call the cops however, they do a quick 180:
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin;
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year!
OK, maybe that food demand bit was just a joke, or maybe you heard them wrong. They seem to be acting nice again. But just as your initial panic starts to subside, they come back at you quickly with:
We won’t go until we get some
We won’t go until we get some
We won’t go until we get some
So bring it right here!
Now the situation has gotten serious. They are back on the figgy pudding thing, and this time they mean business. They have flat-out stated that they refuse to leave the premises until they receive a payment from you in the form of a specific, rare food that there is no way you know how to make even if you somehow had the ingredients.
You could try calling the police but most likely they have cut your phone lines. If you are armed, you could try making a break for your firearm. But there are a lot of them and only one of you, and any group that shows up and makes unreasonable demands can also expected to be armed as well.
Perhaps it’s best to keep some figs around during the holidays. Hmmmmm - maybe they will settle for Fig Newtons?
Merry Christmas from Papa Riah
Technorati Tags: Christmas carols, Terrorism
