Good Quote

Everyday I get this little e-mail from The Quotations Page. It's a little nerdy thing I do. Today I got my set of quotes and one stood out big time for me:

The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if
you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will
be good.
-- Bertrand Russell

It is really true. I know of people who lead "good lives" in the sense that they are living by certain rules (whether it is the Bible, Koran, common sense, etc.) and they claim their happy. However, I wonder if these people really truly are happy.

As as unfortunate hostage of depression, I know what it means to be truly happy because I lost the full ability to feel that way many years ago. Yes, you can live by the Good Book, lay laws, or whatever, but unless you are happy, you are not living a "good life."

Ironically, this quote came in my e-mail today after I've been dealing with an unusually severe episode of depression that has plagued me for almost two weeks now. I'm trying to enjoy the small things in life: two little kittens playing together, the feeling of the sun on my face, swimming in a pool, eating chocolate Italian ices. It's like a fight. My brain wants to only think of the bad things, what I did wrong, what I could have done better or differently. Some days it feels like a losing battle--yesterday was a prime example when nothing I did could ease the darkness--but other days, there is just enough good to outweigh the bad.

So the moral of the quote? Enjoy life and be happy. Life's too short and we never know what's going to happen tomorrow.

Comments

~*Connie*~ said…
I have to admit, I do like this post. My brian occasionally travels down that dark road, and it is sooo hard to remember it isn't that dark. I was actually watching a PBS show about micro-loans in 3rd world countries, and how for $65 people were finally able to pick themselves out of poverty and make a life for themselves, and it would take them a year to pay the loan back. I hope I remember this when Im thinking my world is lost and have it help me remember just how good I do have it.


Btw.. I have to comment. I saw Monkee's pict, and have to say what a perfect name. (and what beautiful kitties you have)
October 30, 2005 at 5:29 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Been a Bit Sick

I know in my last post I said I was going to continue on with my story the next day.  Then, life happened. Ever since last winter, I have had fatigue issues.  I thought they were tied in to my depression as that tends to be the main way it expresses itself.  Also, I had been under a shit ton of stress between taking care of my father-in-law's needs and my own.  When I had the breakdown in late February/early March, it reinforced that idea. Fast forward to this summer.  I developed a new thing: my hands fell asleep way too easily.  It is mainly my left hand with the pinkie and ring fingers.  However, the rest of my hand gets it too and so does my right hand.  I saw my ortho thinking that it was the damn herniated discs in my neck giving me issues again.  He did not think so.  He was positive it was nerve issues in my arms from spending too much time at my desk, keeping my arms bent.  He gave me some exercises and sent me on my wa...
Read more

Not a Morning Person

I would never call myself a "morning person."  Don't get me wrong.  I tend to function the best in the morning in that I am much more productive at that time of day.  However, I think that is because by the end of the day I am so damn tired regardless of what I do. Years ago when I first started teaching, I was always given 8am classes.  Why?  Because no full-timer in their right mind is willing to teach that early.  The best and brightest students go for the post-9:30am classes.  This means, the 8am classes are the last to fill and the students who do fill it are the least motivated ones out there.  Namely, they were too lazy to register in advance which means they got stuck with the only class still open: the 8am one.  Even when I was a student I avoided that time slot like the plague.  However, my Russian classes were only held at that time and it was a three day a week class.  8am on a Friday is just pure evil.  An 8am Ru...
Read more