OPTIMISTIC ME?

OPTIMISTIC ME? BY STEFFEN

Happiness & peace of mind those elusive treasures that we sometimes feel are unattainable, that is why everyone is rushing around trying out every fad that there is, and they all promise you that YOU WILL BE HAPPY! As if happiness is something that you can order from Aramex or Sabeel, IT IS NOT!
The chemistry of happiness is a little chemical called Serotonin, it is produced by the pineal gland in the brain, and it is the size of a very small pea, it triggers the flow of serotonin into your blood and your feelings are enhanced (this is precisely the spot on which MDMA a major component of ecstasy, and a few brand name anti depressants work similarly) the low levels or non existence of serotonin in the body can lead to chronic depression and sometimes suicide, that is happiness dears, so if you want to be happy you have to learn how to regulate that flow!
Now before I go further, let me explain to those of you who do not know that SADNESS IS NOT DEPPRESSION! So those of you who run around saying that you are depressed STOP IT! You do NOT want to experience true clinical depression. While sadness is a normal reaction to being smacked about by life, feelings of grief and remorse are perfectly acceptable they pale by far to the bleak enduring numbness in that void of clinical depression that the sufferers of said disease inhabit, during these periods most sufferers say that they feel absolutely nothing, and that is not a normal state of things.
When doctors talk about depression these days, they are talking of a debilitating and even life threatening disease, a physical brain illness, most of the times its cause is genetic susceptibility, and while some anti depressants can correct the molecular imbalance, shortly improving mood and restoring energy in just enough quantities for them to undertake other methods as well, such as psychotherapy, they will not be transformed to HAPPY people in an instant, but they might be transformed into functioning human beings.
I for one am a realist (okay a cranky cantankerous old wreck) but that is the natural state for me, I love winter and all the dark and gloomy feelings it brings with it, the cold reminds me of the coldness of the grave that we all will end up in eventually, MOMENTO MORI (remember you are mortal), it makes me pep up with energy and to appreciate my life to the fullest. There are some people out there to whom fall/winter is crippling, that is a form of disease called Seasonal Affective Disorder or S.A.D. for short, it affects the people in the north mostly, the places where there is not much light in the winter times, this is easily treated by white light therapy. Personally I doubt that this would work on me, but it really does seem to work on a lot of people, some companies in Scandinavia have made rooms for just that purpose for their employees.
In the process of finding information for this article I came across a common ground, a recipe if you will for reactivating your happiness modes, it goes as follows:
· BREAK big problems down into small ones and acquire a sense of perspective. Ask yourself will this matter in a weeks time?
· DISTINGUISH between self-awareness, which can remove the blocks to happiness, and self-absorption which cannot.
· AVOID comparisons with other people, and at the same time tame envy, do not wonder or speculate if others are better off than you, and do not assume that they are, I can assure you, they are not, they might not have your worries, but I am sure that they have their own problems which are just as weighty as yours.
· SEEK meaningful work, try and find out what makes you happy work wise and work in that field, too many people choose fields that eventually will make them depressed, get out of any job with negative atmospheres, find a job that fulfils you and stimulates you mentally and gives you a sense of accomplishment, at the same time fighting boredom.
· INSIGHTS can help break negative thoughts and behavioural patterns; analysis is NOT a dirty word.
· ACCENTUATE the positive, I know I know in our society where complaining has become an art form and whining is the thing, that it is hard but try, it will do you a world of good, stay away from psychic vampires (those so called friends who drain you of all energies, taking everything and never giving you anything in return), keep a little note book in which you write things that make you happy, fulfilled and relaxed, things that you are thankful for (i.e. that you can breathe and walk), YES, I know I sound like Oprah Winfrey, but it is true, if you remind yourself of the things you have, the little things that count, then you are well on the way.
· INSPIRE yourself by exploring things you never thought you would try, take up a new hobby, something that is so far away from what you do in everyday life. Flying, Rock climbing, Parachuting (okay I know that these are extremes but you get the picture).
· GET with it Exercise is the best way to maintain a slim figure and mobility, plus it stimulates the production of all the little chemicals that make you feel content, also it dispels tension and aggression.
· DO unto others as they do unto you, if people upset you tell them, if they irritate you tell them, keeping things in is NOT healthy. By the way retaliation can be fun, but do not let your thirst for payback rule your life, Karma will eventually hit the wrongdoer, and fate will place you in the spectators seat to see the downfall.
· TREAT Drugs with the fear and respect they deserve, alcohol, cigarettes, amphetamines, ecstasy, and any form of poison out there. They can alter your mind and mood, they can also lead to clinical depression, psychosis, schizophrenia and all the mental ailments as well, yes, even coffee can trigger anxiety attacks!

To round things off I will say these few words, only new lovers and children can run around in a constant state off happiness, for the rest of us short bursts of euphoria are allowable. As T.S. Eliot once said “Mankind can not bear too much happiness”, too much of that (happiness) and some neurotic will point a finger at you and say that you are stark raving mad, and then follows the speculations if it is caused by drugs, genetics, a cult, your parents, too much sun, alcohol etc. Whatever the cause you will be classified as abnormal, for the norm is not running around with a beatific grin like a demented Buddha, the norm is facing the realities of the grim realities.
Happy people make us suspicious, they unnerve us, make us feel uncomfortable, they do not observe what we see, they do not see how we see. Happy people are scary (so are Teletubbies and Barney), they smile a lot, they show teeth in the same way rabid dogs do and insane people too. They wake up happy, they go to sleep happy, they say nice things all the time and do not gossip, they wear bright colours, they live in their own worlds, they think the sun shines out of each others…Heads! They have the kind of inner peace that should only be found in death. They see the glass as half full rather than empty (whereas I see it as broken, go to your therapist with that one dears, and let us see what happens!).
One thing is for certain the older I get the more I think of the infamous Tennessee Williams quote when asked to define Happiness: “Happiness? Insensitivity, I guess.” I am cranky, unstable, impossible, unbalanced, and unpredictable, living with someone like me is living in the last few seconds before a hydrogen bomb goes off, tension, nerves and definitely not boring! And you know I feel just fine like that, that is the way I am, and those who know me like me and hate me for it, so as disenchanted as I am, I am after all optimistic, tomorrow after all is just another day.
OPTIMISTIQUE MOI!