Life is:

stickywicket

I thought I'd float the idea of having a discussion of the week. For starters, what do you think of:

'Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you respond to it.' Charles R Swindoll

barbara12

Hi SW
I agree ...I get my positivity off my mum...family wise we had so much thrown at us...but always found a way round it...I still try today....

dreamdaisy

Oooh, that's food for thought, Sticky. I agree with the basic premise but surely the responding part depends on your personality. I count myself as being one of nature's Tiggers, I think that surely life's tougher if you have Eyeore-ish tendencies. My mum taught me a great deal about stoicism and not using illness as an excuse, those lessons are paying off now. DD

villier

Yes, I agree, but it depends on the individual, in my case I get a reminder every three weeks in hospital getting treatment when I am constantly reminded that there are others a lot worse off than me totally puts life into perspective. xx

stickywicket

My own instinct is to agree with the statement but, then again, I'm speaking from the privileged position of someone with a roof over their head, living in 21st century UK where there's a good NHS.

Would I feel the same if I were a street child in Brazil or Guatemala or if I'd had to endure my RA 100 years ago without DMARDS? (I can see the appeal of laudanum ) Yet again, some poor people are the happiest. It's an odd world.

ichabod6

I'm financially poor, no one is happier than I a,.
Life is what you have got; just get on and live it.

ichabod6

for , read m

frogmorton

Good idea Sticky

Right - what do I think? I think I agree with the basic statement. I have always thought that the way I respond to situations/people impacts on what happens next......

Having said that I take on board what you say about where and when we were born and to whom, (DD), the percentages have to alter if you are not as lucky as I have been.

Love

Toni xxx

Colin1

Life is like a bowl of cherries
Life is what you make it
its preasous and special
have you thought about how long a liftime is if you live to see 14 years old or 21 years old have you lived a lifetime
what if you live to your 90s is that a liftime
what about the many effects love has on life
what about grief, war and famin, rich and poor what about the classes how many social classes do we have nowerdays. many things influence a life not all good i'm affraid what illness and the health problems we have. If you have RA it will more than likly shorten your life span however long that may be.
Colin

stickywicket

Colin1 wrote:

what about the many effects love has on life

I think you've hit the nail on the head, Colin. If we can love and be loved we can deal with the rest.

LignumVitae

I think I agree with the statement.
There are many who are really well off but because they are never manage to count their blessings so never see their good fortune. There are many blessed with good health who, because they are can never understand how to cope with bad health or see how lucky they are and so make a drama out of a minor injury.
I've seen whole families living in tin shacks smaller than my front from which people like to tell me is a small front room. Those shacks would be giving out wood smoke and laughter. I've seen kids turn up to after school football practice, after they've been home and sorted the family meal out and got their smaller siblings safely settled. They then played in bare feet cos they had no boots and no parents cheered them on or picked them up but they were happy.
I do wonder if a lot of us arthritis people are like DD, tiggers. Is that because we were 10% tiggers to start with or because li has taught us to be tiggers? Does it only get the people who can still bounce no matter what you throw In their path?

daffy2

I think the premise is accurate, in effect it's 'life is what you make it'. Some people are naturally positive and will be able to cope with adversity if and when it comes their way, some can learn to cope with adversity, and possibly also make a positive of it - the forum demonstrates that every day. There are other people for whom what they have, be it wealth, health etc, is never satisfactory, not understanding that contentment comes from within.
Trouble is, if, like me, one is not naturally a Tigger, then avoiding the Eeyore mindset can be very hard work, especially if challenges come in clumps....It has to be addressed though,as was brought home to me yesterday on my first day back after the winter lay-off when my manager pointed out that although my colleagues were sympathetic to the problems I was facing at the end of last year, nevertheless they had found my negativity wearing. I'm not surprised, I did as well! Living alone is not helpful, but that's the way it is so I've just got to get on with it. I have much to be thankful for, and need to remember that.

stickywicket

I agree wholeheartedly with your first paragraph, daffy. As for the second – I just have this scene from my grandson’s Winnie-the-Pooh DVD in my head in which Tigger is bouncing merrily all over the place and poor Eeyore is finding him very hard going

I love your ‘straight take’ on the negativity and I think you’re right about living alone. We all profit from the opinions of others and their different ways of doing things, even when we don’t like them.