Comments on: Psychoanalytic Reflections 04

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:39:24 +0000

@Uncle Joe — You’re exactly right; much of anxiety comes from the unknown, and once you figure out the worst-case, even death perhaps, it’s not that as terrible as one would expect. But it’s not just identifying a problem, it’s being able to look at it from several angles to approach it logically.

It’s never the cause of anxiety that’s the problem. It’s our habit of over-thinking as humans. When we’re children, we don’t have these problems, even though the same causes are all around us. One of the reasons why I try to follow the Taoist practice of becoming a child.

I have to disagree that everyone tries to be better. Too many times, I’ve been let down by people becoming complacent with themselves. Not only that but, there are many people who are aware that they can improve themselves in some way, yet are too lazy to try. That’s what disappoints me the most.

@Liz — To be honest, I’d rather live like this, than as one of the billion mindless zombies. At least this gives us something to work towards. It makes me feel like I’m alive, not like I’m just biding time until I’m dead. The journey and the struggle are the important parts of life.

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:58:41 +0000

sounds like me, lets see….

emotional deprevation-check

unrelenting standards-check

anxiety-check

isn’t being human awesome?

By: joe

joe — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:19:40 +0000

I’ve always had the idea that anxiety is the result of not being able to clearly identify the cause of a problem. Once the cause is identified, you can either contain the prolem or know the worst-case scenario. And oftentimes you’ll realise that the worst-case scenario is not that bad. That way you’ll have peace of mind. The interesting thing is, a lot of the times you won’t be able to kill the cause, but that doesn’t matter anymore.

I get the feeling that you’re starting to look at your problem from a distance (i.e., a bird’s-eye view) as if you were critiquing a film or a book. That’s a huge progress.

I have the same problem of expecting others to try to be better, that’s also my unrelenting standard. But then I think surely everybody tries to be better, only in aspects that are important to them, and unimportant to me.