how do i get rid of the bad thoughts and live my life?

i hear the news and i hear them talk about all the bad crime in the world-- murder,rape,gangs,i hear things about children having to have surgery after being raped, i hear about people killing for no reason, and i feel like i cant take it anymore. it rips my heart out and i just cry uncontrollably. i would think to myself that everybody in the world is not that mean and evil, but it doesnt help. does anybody have any suggestions about how to live my life without breaking down? i cant stand all the pain in this world. please help

 

dam, i wish i had a good answer for that myself. i mean for me, its not so much about individual crimes like that, but the deterioration of conditions people have to live with, do to adamant arbitraryness of policies, and every idiology, with no exception contributing to that arbitraryness and aggressiveness of it.

i think one thing is that while we need to hold ourselves and our own actions accountable to ourselves, we don't need to apply that same standard to what is outside of ourselves. only to our own influence on it.

people become desensitiesed by enculturation and coersion into poorly thought out priorities. we don't have to beat our own heads against that wall, but instead, only do the one thing we can do, and that is try to set a better example for each other.

other then setting a better example for each other, well that may be as much as we can ask of ourselves.

there's nothing wrong with crying about it occasionally. its damd well worth crying over, and maybe even risking life and limb and accepting the loss of them over. many great charismatic leaders have done the latter, and will continue to do so.

ghandi, dr king, the founders of vertually all the major systems of belief. none of them expected everyone to have the same capacities for doing so though.

each of us has our own gift of what we can do, and as long as we dicipline ourselves to not do more harm then good in the proccess, then i think we can each thereby remain reasonably at peace with ourselves.

then there's always the hugs of the invisible, whatever you believe in or about it.

not the rantings of fanatics, but whatever you personally experience of it.

=^^=
.../\...

 

well,, you say you've seen a few aspect of this world that truly exist,, try to understand that there are things happening TO people on this planet that you really don't want to stop and comprehend.
like,,, 30,000 children die of starvation each day.

if you can accept that and move on with your life as if those dying children are not your responsibility ... then you are out of whatever mental hole you could place yourself in ....
Move, Dance...... feel the ground beneath your feet !!!
Consider yourself as BLESSED.

Feel this video....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwliC-kK-W4

Take her spirit and FEEL what you can take from it !!

Then move on,
take advantage of whatever situation you find yourself in.
take from whoever is not willing to crawl to the top faster than you....
steal from the people who are too stupid to protect what is precious....
and take from this life what you want to be you're own.

You are in control, when you take control of who you want to become,,
until that moment,,, you belong to someone else.

 

this seems to express two extremes, while missing the functional middle, which is to avoid causing suffering.

not to appease some diety, but because the world our actions and values create, is the world we have to live in also.

=^^=
.../\...

 

yeah, i know they are not my responsibility, but i just feel their pain and i know that kind of stuff is always gonna be out there. for me its those individual crimes that tear me apart. i just feel like its to much to have to live with.

 

well i guess part of what helps for me is NOT buying into that "there's always gonna be" bussiness. maybe there will always be some sort of tragic inequities of some kind going on somewhere, but not always as much nor of all of the kinds we're familiar with now.

=^^=
.../\...

 

yeah, but i dont understand why something that hasnt happened to me can affect me so much that it makes me breakdown . i mean if thats all life has to offer is pain, then theres really no point in going on.

 

I used to get so depressed and angry at the state of the world. Starvation, poverty, war, lack of opportunity, muder, rape etc. etc. etc. I always felt extremely powerless. I mean, how could I, a single person, change a world that had so much wrong in it.

I cut myself off from the media. TV and newspapers contain only bad news. I decided to forget about the big picture and just concentrate on making my life as good as possible.

Smiling, being relatively environmentally friendly, volunteering when I can and getting involved in children's education at least gives me a little more input into the make-up of the next generation.

Some people may think that I have my head in the sand, but I honestly don't need to know all that is happening in the world. I just need to try and make my little world as good as possible. Maybe, some others may see what I'm doing and take some inspiration from it, changing their own lives.

When enough little worlds are being looked after, the big world will take care of itself.

 

Hmmm without turning into a bible basher , try and think of it this way.
This world is just a testing ground or learning ground.
People who cause shit go somewhere different at the end of it to people who try and stop it.
Nature can look pretty ugly and few newborn animals survive til adulthood.
Humans it isnt as constantly war like and we CAN make a difference.
But you cant do it all on your own and need to grow positively yourself - not just stop others negativity.
Ultimately tho its all a bit like a computer game - one day someones gonna press control alt del on all of us , before we go somewhere else, IMO

 

Well to be honest there is likely more good in this world than bad. The sad fact is that "Bad" sells airtime better than good so you will not hear about the good as much.


Go out an look for the good, create some good in your immediate surroundings, its easy to do.

Its there all around ya if you look for it, but if you wait for it to be shwon to you on TV, thru the newspaper and such it will be few and far between.

Immediate good just happend here.... You posted a something that troubled you and strangers from across the world took time to answere you out of compassion, concern, intrest ect! It might not be much but for some the little bit of good that is out there here and there adds up!

 

I ignore the news and live in my own world.

 

Me too, I turned off the news years ago, right after 9/11. I figure if it's important enough, like Heath Ledger dying (whoever the fuck that is) I will hear about it. Your sig says it all "Create your own reality" so don't let the media do it for you. They have their own agenda.

 

I agree with Red. turn off the tv, and judge people by what you see. Live your life in a manner consistent with your own beliefs, and help out as much as you can.

The world is complicated, and at some point, you and everyone you knows going to die. But in the mean time theres a lot to live for.

 

For a start, you can read Flannery O'Connor's short stories.

In all of her stories pretty much the main character starts with a presumption of moral superiority over others and an apocalyptic perception of the world.

Then, through a moment of adversity, the main character's own moral shortcomings are exposed. And he is saved through his love of others also morally imperfect and his love of this flawed world.

 

you know i try to think of all the good things in this world, but even thats not helping. all the bad images of people screaming in pain keep coming back.

 

I agree with the above posts that say turn off the media that are providing the news. If it affects you so deeply and profoundly then why keep watching and listening? If hitting my thumb with a hammer is causing me acute discomfort my solution is not to continue hitting in hopes that I learn to cope with it better.

 

How bad is it for you? Do you lose sleep over it?

Is it all media related or have you ever seen anything traumatic. If it's bad enough you might want to find a counselor and chat about it. There have been cases of people developing symptoms like PTSD from media images.

The only thing helpful I can probably tell you is what's probably pretty obvious to you. The fact that these are partially images created to inspire fear in you. Part of that's healthy, but if it's having too strong of an effect on you, you probably need to firstly distance yourself from what's causing those emotions, and secondly working on a way of coping with them.

Perhaps working through a shelter for women or something like that, and actually seeing it first hand would actually be therapeutic. Approach it in a situation where your in control and can offer help to those who'd need it.

Anyway, all the best Crystal.

 

We’re naturally instinctive animals and our instincts conflict with our moral and ethical beliefs which in turn question our actions.

Got it, good

BTW: That's also why every human being is a potential split-personality just waiting to happen


Hotwater

 

That is a very smart thing to do !

 

I think the point is to stop trying for a bit...good luck.