10 August

It’s an interesting and popular idea, that our problems are caused by too much negativity, and those problems would be fixed if we were all more positive. Even the idea that talking about problems is a negative thing, rather than just doing what humans have always done, talked about things. One of the most inspiring and fun things about being human is the complex and not always pleasant varieties of our experience. As if the baseline for life is permanent and perpetual fun, which must be rescued by forced happiness if things go wrong. Like thinking a flat tyre is fixed by being happy about your flat tyre. A filter or window for life that assesses everything according to mood, rather than realities. Like customers at a tourist resort, awarding 1-5 stars based on how satisfied they are by life. Passive recipients of existence, rather than an active engagement in life’s complexity.