I don't know about you, but I could use a good laugh. Thankfully, the human condition didn't change today, so there are abundant opportunities for getting that laugh.
Let's start with the quote of the day, from The Atlantic's 229 Million Children Are Officially Invisible.
Registering babies at birth may be a routine, almost automated process in the United States, but it's a rarity in some impoverished nations in both South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report released on Tuesday by UNICEF. In all, there are nearly 230 million children in the world who are nameless and stateless. And they may languish in anonymity for a good portion of their early lives.
Living without any proof of your existence can be a major challenge...
If you're not laughing yet, you may want to check to see if you're actually dead and living in Hell.
Either way, dead or alive, you are living in Hell, so you can't do much about that. In fact, this sad situation may make you bitter.
My real subject, as the headline suggests, is a priceless article from August, 2011 called Bitterness Can Make You Sick.
New research suggests constant bitterness can make a person ill.
In the study, Concordia University researchers examined the relationship between failure, bitterness and quality of life.
“Persistent bitterness may result in global feelings of anger and hostility that, when strong enough, could affect a person’s physical health,” said psychologist Dr. Carsten Wrosch.
Wrosch and co-author Jesse Renaud, a doctoral student, single out failure as one of the most frequent causes of bitterness. Feelings of anger and accusation are often found with bitterness...
It was not your abject failure which is affecting your physical health. No, it is the bitterness arising from your abject failure that may kill you.
“When harbored for a long time,” Wrosch said, “bitterness may forecast patterns of biological dysregulation (a physiological impairment that can affect metabolism, immune response or organ function) and physical disease.”
One expert has proposed that bitterness should be recognized as a mental illness. German psychiatrist Dr. Michael Linden argues that bitterness is actually a medical disorder and should be categorized as post-traumatic embitterment disorder (PTED).
He estimates that between one and two per cent of the population is embittered and by giving the condition a proper name, people with PTED will receive the therapeutic attention they deserve.
As a PTED sufferer, I am wondering whether I might be eligible for all sorts of wonderful psycho-active drugs which would make me feel much, much better.
On the other hand, if health care systems refuses to give me those precious drugs, my bitterness may grow.
I'm sure you see the problem. Is there a way out?
While experts continue to review this perspective, Wrosch and Renaud say bitterness can be avoided.
They hold that if people who experience failure can find other ways to fulfill their goals to avoid being bitter.
If they cannot discover alternatives, then individuals need to disengage from futile efforts (e.g., to get promoted, to save a marriage) and reengage in something that’s equally meaningful (e.g., a new job or passion).
This process is called self-regulation. Researchers state that meaningful activities to disengage and reengage can be necessary for a person to avoid bitter emotions.
“Any effective therapeutic intervention,” said Renaud, “hinges on the affected individual finding ways to self-regulate.”
Ah! I need to self-regulate. Writing DOTE has been fun, but it has also made me bitter.
Clearly, this has to be my last post because I urgently need to disengage from futile efforts and re-engage in something else that's equally important.
I'm not sure how to re-engage with something else which is equally important, so send me your suggestions as to how I might do that, along with a really big check so I don't get even more bitter than I already am.
Let me put it a different way. Why might I be bitter?
Here's the 2nd most popular youtube video of 2013.
Humans have watched it 400,345,337 times so far this year.
Back when we all lived together in extended families, in real communities of people who depended on each other for their well being, none of this nonsense would have been given the time of day.
Perhaps we'll get back to living properly once more, when all of this current nonsense gives way.
We can hope. Or not.
Posted by: Clyde | 12/12/2013 at 12:21 PM