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I think I just posted the last personal post I'll ever post to facebook. I said I needed ways to stay positive, suggestions... I got more people praying for me, quoting the Bible, suggesting I watch YouTube videos of preachers and such... I'm sorry I posted it. I know many of those people in the real world, not just through social media and I sometimes wear my atheism on my sleeve. I'm disappointed in some who I thought knew me better. I'll just have to find ways to think.positively myself like watch YouTube videos of George Carlin or Richard Dawkins, read cosmos again or Tolstoy. Dostoevsky ... jeesh. I watched two hours of Noam Chomsky lectures today and felt better. He's such a brilliant man. So I'll ask you, what do you suggest I do to stay positive?

confidentrealm 7 July 29
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a facebook friend purge?

I can't do that since I'm in business and use FB for that. I just won't make any more posts about anything personal. I'm in a secret group for people with depression so I'm going to confine any health updates to that space.

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All you can do is dive into what takes your mind off the condition, even if it's but for a moment.
My late dh & I spent a lot of time in front of the fire tv watching all kinds of stuff.

In your case as far as FB I might do selective audiences for things that only like minded can see.

Qualia Level 8 July 31, 2018
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Me personally I like to have lots of hobbies that's what I do to energize my life and find new outlets for my artistic expression

I also smoke a lot of weed LOL

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So you’re why their stock plummeted … and I’d been thinking it’s cuz everyone’s coming over here 😀

Seriously, stay here, please. Follow the links of various posters, or not. I’ve been enjoying some of their suggested podcasts, youtube links, TV programs, books, music.. As far as facebook.. as a member of American Atheists, if I went out ... it might be ‘liking or reposting’ nothing but their posts ..till my ‘friends’ abandoned me!

Varn Level 8 July 29, 2018
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I was pointed towards Dostoevsky by Jordon Peterson who, like Dostoevsky, discusses important ideas from the mid-ground. I can't recommend his YouTube lectures highly enough.

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Be present, worry less of past and future neither of which exists in the present moment. Without going into too much depth there is actual science to support being content and happy through meditation, I can say I feel better when I do it then when I don’t. I did my last personal Facebook post about a year ago. I think the differences on this site we are at least starting with a common ground?

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I'll pray for you.

Just kidding.

Seriously though, I am not a bubbly or especially positive person myself, and I have found pragmatically, the best way to stay positive is to live with someone, who invariably doesn't want to be pulled down by your negativity, so you find ways to project happiness whether you feel it or not, and then you fake it until you make it (or get really good at faking it).

I don't know a better way. I wish I did.

OK, I laughed … then attempted to memorize.. That was deep, possibly why I’m here.

@Varn It's not that I never feel happy, it's just not consistent enough or forcefully projected so as to not make other people uncomfortable or confused (I'm often perceived as cranky or aloof or in pain when that's not my internal experience at all). My wife has a similar problem with what she calls her "resting face" which is a slight frown that suggests she's far grimmer than she actually feels. A lot of functioning in the world is a sort of public relations where you "put your best foot forward" or "rise to the occasion" so as not to give people the easy opportunity to judge / misunderstand you, and to simply not make them uncomfortable. In recent generations, the teaching of social graces and etiquette has fallen by the wayside, and while such airs aren't without their problems, people who know "proper" behavior at least avoided the problem that Other People tend to make snap judgments about you based on superficial characteristics, and then stubbornly cling to those judgments even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they were wrong.

My introverted constitution is such that I find interacting with people exhausting enough without having to play-act a role for them, but I am gradually coming to see the value in it.

@mordant Such an awareness by both of you sounds like the key, well done. I feel close to the same, sensing the need to make an effort to set others at ease. I’m not being judgemental, often appreciating their conversations and presence..

I agree the social graces and protocols help more than they’re given credit. Often amazed by the polish and ease other’s navigate even basic encounters due to their familiarity with manors leaves me feeling inept in comparison. And as close as I pay attention, the best have so incorporated it into their persona … I can’t identify what’s just taken place, only close my mouth, step back.. and watch for more 🙂

...as I age, I’ll identify deficiencies it seems would take another lifetime to master.. I’ve no wife, and miss that ‘two heads’ capability in a social setting. Though seemingly out of the pool, I am drawn to no-nonsense. Though unsure what ‘they’re’ drawn to, I recognize and appreciate it, manors or not.

Lol. That's funny. I'm very single, so that might be part of my depression, besides my current medical issues. I'm becoming more isolated since I'm not working like I used to. So I'm trying to find a new niche.

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Focus on helping other people in big ways or small. From personal experience i have found focusing on me and my life and politics or work can be crazy stressful. Change the locus of your focus! Donate backpacks with school supplies, volunteer for a cause you believe in. Read about the good deeds people do on the daily. Helping others is the way to connect with positivity!

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Forgive their ignorance; they are out of touch with reality, and truly know not what they do. They are like children who believe in Santa.

EdEarl Level 8 July 29, 2018
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