Good things happen on bad days too
Jul. 14th, 2013 09:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
untonugganToday I got up and wanted to post all the rage I'm having about George Zimmerman and anti-abortion legislation and the attempted bombing of a mosque in the West Midlands and just all the reasons why this world we live in is generally SNAFU'd right now. It feels like Sauron is winning and I am pissed off.
Then I remembered the last time I was hospitalized, and how it was right around the Boston Marathon Bombings. And how I had Particularly Dark Timez (TM) around the DC Sniper Shootings. And you know what? I wasn't alone. The holidays aren't the only time mental health facilities fill up. Any time there's been a news event that I have found ~*~!infuriating or triggering beyond my capability to express it!~*~ there have been others in those facilities experiencing the same thing.
Someone even made a painting of Trayvon Martin in art therapy; it was posted on the wall of an inpatient hospital.
If the local can affect the global, so the global can affect the local. What is more local than our own bodies, our own mental health?
Yes it is important to stay engaged, to make a difference in the world. But we need to be fully charged to do so. Therefore, in response to what some are calling "the worst day on the internet", I am dubbing this entry a safe space.
Here is a place to recharge. A virtual "book of happy" for anyone who cares to participate, if you will. Feel free to post inspiring quotes, funny pictures or animated gifs, alllllll the cute animal photos, good songs, whatever. Just please, don't bring the news here. This is a news free zone.
I am currently leaving comments unscreened, but if it becomes a problem then I will turn screening on.
Then I remembered the last time I was hospitalized, and how it was right around the Boston Marathon Bombings. And how I had Particularly Dark Timez (TM) around the DC Sniper Shootings. And you know what? I wasn't alone. The holidays aren't the only time mental health facilities fill up. Any time there's been a news event that I have found ~*~!infuriating or triggering beyond my capability to express it!~*~ there have been others in those facilities experiencing the same thing.
Someone even made a painting of Trayvon Martin in art therapy; it was posted on the wall of an inpatient hospital.
If the local can affect the global, so the global can affect the local. What is more local than our own bodies, our own mental health?
Yes it is important to stay engaged, to make a difference in the world. But we need to be fully charged to do so. Therefore, in response to what some are calling "the worst day on the internet", I am dubbing this entry a safe space.
Here is a place to recharge. A virtual "book of happy" for anyone who cares to participate, if you will. Feel free to post inspiring quotes, funny pictures or animated gifs, alllllll the cute animal photos, good songs, whatever. Just please, don't bring the news here. This is a news free zone.
I am currently leaving comments unscreened, but if it becomes a problem then I will turn screening on.
These quotes usually makes me smile, and are in my book of good things
Date: 2013-07-14 01:44 pm (UTC)― Thich Nhat Hanh
“We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh
African American Quilters of Baltimore
Date: 2013-07-14 01:49 pm (UTC)Asymettrical "crazy quilt" in browns and blacks and reds and yellows and whites with faces, sunflowers, and hands and text that reads "When you find a friend hold on with both hands" two hands reach out to hold the text
Kitty gif
Date: 2013-07-14 02:01 pm (UTC)white cat batting things off a counter, text reads "fuck this, fuck that, fuck those too, fuck all these too, fuck this thing in particular" and goes on ad infinitum
Re: African American Quilters of Baltimore
Date: 2013-07-14 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-14 02:14 pm (UTC)LOOK HOW HAPPY SHANNON AND SEEMA ARE.
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Date: 2013-07-14 02:26 pm (UTC)[image description: animated gif of a toddler fighting a tiny kaiju]
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Date: 2013-07-14 02:31 pm (UTC)(from calmingmanatee.tumblr.com: [Image description: A photograph of a manatee facing the camera. There is sand beneath it, and a small fish off to the left of its face. TEXT: “It might be dark now, but it won’t be forever. No matter how bleak things seem, the sun always comes back."])
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Date: 2013-07-14 02:39 pm (UTC)by Chloe Ezra, a GIF set of two cats emerging from swirls on canvas. Very calming and pretty.
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Date: 2013-07-14 02:42 pm (UTC)from calmingmanatee.tumblr.com, Image description: A photograph of a baby manatee, facing the camera, just touching the tail of its mother. TEXT: “Everybody has bad days. Sometimes all of the little things just get to you. It is okay to be overwhelmed sometimes. Take some time to look after yourself. You survived the other bad days. You will survive this one too."
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Date: 2013-07-14 03:24 pm (UTC)I'd contributed to the Glitch Soundtrack project on Indiegogo way back when, and recently got the "Glitch Ringtones, Alerts & Sound Effects" collection.
It has a thing. I don't know how to describe it. It's called the "Glitch Sound Thingy-Doer" and it's a pack of sounds and scripty-bits and images, so you not only hear the tinkertool or the random kindness sound, you get to see the animation too.
It opens with the Glitch opening sequence. And, wow, that brings up GOOD memories and throws me into Instant Happyspace, even with all the sadness because it's gone now. Am now trying to decide which sound effect to use for email notifications on my work Blackberry, because I could use a tiny happy-ping when I get new messages.
(I cannot figure out how to share the Glitch opening sequence. I don't have a tumblr and Grooveshark tends to crash my browser.)
Re: African American Quilters of Baltimore
Date: 2013-07-14 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-14 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-14 03:35 pm (UTC)Aw, GLITCH. I should see about getting Glitch ringtones for my phone...that would be awesome.
Re: Kitty gif
Date: 2013-07-14 03:59 pm (UTC)Re: Kitty gif
Date: 2013-07-14 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-14 04:22 pm (UTC)http://browse.deviantart.com/art/PPG-Iroh-51033739
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Date: 2013-07-14 04:24 pm (UTC)Music
Date: 2013-07-14 05:13 pm (UTC)Lutenist Ronn McFarlane plays his own composition "Pinetops".
(In case embedding video doesn't work, it's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtBA-0GgUG8
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Date: 2013-07-14 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-14 06:27 pm (UTC)In the cute animal photo category, have a picture of a two week old (or so) baby wild rabbit.
Have some YouTube awesomeness
Date: 2013-07-14 07:02 pm (UTC)Sesame Street + Yo Yo Ma [= Adorkable YES]
Cups song done right [Amazing singing, amazing choreography - I think I've watched this five times in the last week; delightful]
Re: Kitty gif
Date: 2013-07-14 10:05 pm (UTC)And hey, if we're posting cat pictures...
Re: Kitty gif
Date: 2013-07-14 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-14 10:38 pm (UTC)Re: Have some YouTube awesomeness
Date: 2013-07-14 10:38 pm (UTC)