Emo Adults, Skunks, Happiness, and Maya Angelou
One of my favorite authors, Maya Angelou, hit the unhappy nail on the head when she said, “Frowning makes you ugly.” If you’ll notice, most pictures you see of the great lady are smiling…okay, she’s smiling, the picture, itself, isn’t exactly smiling.
(Uh, yeah, I just “word-policed” myself.)
I thought of that saying a few days ago when I was at the mall. So many people buzzing around - and, it seemed, that 8 out of 10 looked mad or unhappy. I’ve seen happier faces in emergency rooms. Now, I’m not expecting everyone I see to look like a morning talk show host. If everyone was all pressed and smiling ear to ear I might think I was in the middle of a Sci-Fi novel and that they’re happy faces were about to peel away - revealing skin covered with green scales and eyes that glowed red hatred. Not a scene I want to be caught inside of.
I’m really not trying to blow sunshine up the world’s collective butt, I’m just saying that some people get stuck in a funk. A funk of telling themselves, and the world, that they’re feeling down…sad…mad…depressed…whatever unjoyous feeling they’re embracing at the moment. Young people are so fond of the funk, they’ve even named it - emo.
You only name something if you want it to stick around. I mean, my husband has always known that. He has always realized that the minute I name a stray cat, dog, raccoon, possum - whatever - it is officially part of our family. He usually doesn’t blink…he just heads off for food to feed it/them. He did, however, raise an eyebrow when I said I had left some dry cat food out for Stinky. I guess the name gave my cute, quiet little friend away.
That’s the way it works, you name it…it’s yours. Whether the name is Stinky, Emo, Depression, the Blues - if you want it, invite it in, give it a name, and sure enough, it’ll dwell with you as long as you keep calling for it.
Why not invite something better in? Give it a name like Excited, Hopeful, Upbeat, Happy…then ivite it to stick around. Call on it enough and it’ll move right in.
While I’m on the subject, why are so many people so freakin’ obnoxious? There’s a select number of people who just go around trying to make everyone else as miserable and gloomy as they are. They seem to think that by unleashing their nastiness on everyone else, they’ll make them as cranky and cantankerous as they are. Ill-tempered, quarrelsome, disagreeable little pestilences - I’d take Stinky over them, any day. Truth be known, I feel for them. The people who never have a good word to say (let alone two)…instead of getting mad at them, I’ve come to feel sorry for them. Can you imagine how miserable it must be to be them? Emo adults are the stuff nightmares are made of.
Like every post I do - whether it’s sharing the ramblings inside of my own head, like this one, or sharing a quote or story that I hope will move you as it did me…I do it from a good place: My home office. No, just kidding (not that my office isn’t a good place)…I do it from the heart. I honestly care about other people - that would be you - and if I ever think I’ve come across something that might slap a smile on your face, give a squeeze to your heart, or drop a thought in your head…I’ll be slapping, squeezing, and dropping like I’m in a hip hop video.
Abraham Lincoln said that we’re all about as happy as we want to be. And, while there are medical exceptions, truth lives inside of his words. He was Abraham Lincoln, after all! If you’ve been down lately, pick yourself up. Kick out the family of negative terminolgy and invite the Positives in.
They’re much better houseguests.
Click on the link to see a cartoon of a boy-ish emo kid. I thought it was funny…or sad - I forget which. http://www.phatcowcartoons.com/images/Original/emo_kids_suck___by_c_t_supahfly.jpg
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Joi,
This is the kind of post that everyone sould read first thing in the morning before they take their misery outside of the house.
Thank you for bringing a ((((smile)))) to my face.
I absolutely love Maya Angelou, and you’re right, in her pictures she is always smiling. I think she’s right that frowning makes us look ugly. I think she has also discovered something I read recently (can’t remember where, still looking) that smiling makes us feel happier. Could be…
Recently I was researching happiness (that seems like an odd sentence now that I’ve typed it out!) for an article on TMFC. Experts suggested that when we’re in the dumps, we should smile more. Somehow doing so triggers something inside of us. It isn’t long before we convince ourselfes that we’re actually quite happy and in a great mood.
After an over-achieving Monday recently (The Monday was over-achieving it’s Monday-itis, I wasn’t over-achieving anything!), I gave this one a try. It worked!
I might have looked like a perfect fool, but at least I was a happy one.
- Joi
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