And that first breath after

Was like water in my lungs.

MBTI sites describing weaknesses like:

INFJ - too selfless, rejected by the world for being too good and morally upright

ENTJ - Psychopaths craving blood

INFP - has crying for breakfast

Everyone: plants are are good
Property management: *replaces the grass on parking lot islands with fake grass*

Reasons why I’m a cat

- Have an unsettlingly realistic meow

- I do this “I love you go away” thing

- have been told my multiple people that I look like a cat

Abstract art imitates patterns we see in reality, but projected in a world where the shapes on their own do not make sense to us.

Answer to Quora question, "Why do pessimists do better in life?"

This is a good question. It depends on what you mean by “do better in life”.

There are some specific areas where pessimists are less likely to fail because pessimists tend disengage more quickly than optimists. Because of this, pessimists are less likely to suffer losses in gambling, and they are also less likely begin small businesses based on unrealistic expectations.[1][2]

There’s also this thing called “defensive pessimism” which doesn’t prevent people from doing things at all, but help people learn to take calculated risks. [3]

However, in attempts to study and measure happiness and health in general, pessimists do not do better. Pessimists are more likely to be depressed, anxious, and don’t live as long on average[4]. One reason researchers considered is that optimists find it easier to bounce back from stressors.

Optimists also recover from surgery quicker[5], and on the more materialistic side, in some studies optimists also made more money on average, [6] were more likely to be promoted[7][8], and after losing a job found a new one faster by months[9].

This article suggests a good balance between the two can be hope for the best, be prepared for the worst. (Is It Safer to Be a Pessimist?)

P.s. Sorry for dotting the whole thing with links. I just thought this was a good question and wanted to be able to keep track of where things I (think I) know come from more than anything. Might try to narrow/edit them down later.

Footnotes

[1] Optimism, pessimism, and gambling: the downside of optimism.

[2] The case for pessimism: Cheery people earn less in business

[3] When Being a Pessimist Can Be a Good Thing

[4] New evidence that optimists live longer: After decades of research, a new study links optimism and prolonged life

[5] Act Like an Optimist, Improve Your Health

[6] The Successful Optimist

[7] The Importance of Being an Optimist: Evidence from Labor Markets

[8] How to Become a Greater Optimist! - Boyer Managment Group

[9] The Successful Optimist

Might stop telling people I was born in "nineteen-ninety-six".
"Year one-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-six of our common era" is much more dramatic.

Are you living right by your heart?

Are you living right by your heart?

The heart wants good and the heart wants bad, but when we look at the days of our lives do we live by the good in it? Is our conscience at peace?

If not, then perhaps it is time to change the way we live.

I've never thought of writing as a "talent". (Rant)

I've never thought of writing a "talent". Maybe it's just because of my own status as an amateur, but I think anybody actually can write, and as long as they have learned the characters needed to write what they're thinking that just is what it is. It's just thinking on paper (or on a keyboard).

Wouldn't that just make "thinking" that talent? It seems very strange to consider thinking a "talent". Also, by extension that would make it feel a little conceited to view oneself as talented for their thoughts.

And depending on a person's situation they might be more inclined to imagine stories to write down, but personally throughout life this has only felt like a reflection of the present conditions of life. It has felt very external; a very simple question of does the external environment permit it or not? By default it is there, running as a background program; unless the outside world prohibits it from developing into something very interesting that we enjoy.

Isn't it largely things that happen that nurture and fashion our thoughts into thoughts we don't like?

To me, good writing is just recording a thought that I like. Bad writing is just recording a thought that I don't. So any time that I say I don't like my writing, it means I don't like my thinking, which is a bigger problem than talent or lack thereof if you as me.

The reason why "Depression" is bigger than "positivity" in the word cloud is because I tag a lot of  positivity posts with "depression" too so that strangers who are depressed can also find things that might help them feel a little better.

Collecting stickers

Collecting stickers is pretty much collecting art, but smaller and less expensive.

As a child I had a little sticker book from the dollar store. I lost it somewhere one day, but feel ready to start again. The only problem is now I also like big stickers, so I need more pages and books are far less accessible now.

If anyone knows where to get a nice big sticker book that doesn't have Dora the Explorer on it please let me know :)

Words can become charged without their meaning even changing. Sometimes things we say are technically correct, but it would be more beneficial to say it another way.

This is when our priorities and values and motives and feelings come into play; yes they can indeed be exposed by the way we say things.

Today I was feeling angry,
So I made a list of people I know
Motivated by positivity,
Love without hypocrisy.

"How about instead of fighting for real, people play a video game! Or chess!"

Five or Six-year-old me had some good ideas.

It has been one day and my college has already pulled a my college.

Cranberry Works: Now Wrapping Crystal Necklaces!

Step one: Try to open the box and accidentally fling a crystal across the room.

Jan 4, 2019, posted Jan 5

i lava you (doodles)

These guys did amazing!

Jan 3, posted Jan 5, 2020

There gets a point in those books where you realize that there is no way this is going to have a happy ending. But that's because you know what most authors do, not because it really has to be that way.

You are the author.