Older, but no wiser

I have a horrible feeling this is going to come across sounding preachy, but all this talk about personas sets off so many thoughts…

One of the nice things about blogs and bloggers is their generally positive outlook. Perhaps I just have a biased view based on those blogs I select to read, but it certainly appears that bloggers take a deliberately optimistic view of life. By and large they seem to be glass-half-full people.

But trying to be consistently positive can have its risks. Yes, I’d agree it’s good to look on the bright side; and on the basis that what goes around comes around, it seems on the face of it to be good also to want to fill the blogosphere with ideas that encourage and support.

Deliberately being unequivocally positive though can mean we feel guilt about having negative thoughts and feelings and so hide them, even to the extent of becoming ashamed of them, especially if we see no evidence for others feeling that way. Yet negative feelings are just as much part of our being as positive ones; there’s no need to pretend always to be smiling.

Some days are just better than others. It’s OK to have grey days. Even black days. Try and change them by all means, but don’t feel guilty about them. Being real, being whole is about accepting every part of yourself – myself – and if we can’t accept less than positive feelings in ourselves, how can we be accepting towards others?

(Here endeth the lesson…)