Matthew // Normal Happenings1 Comment

Positivity By Force

đź’¬ Highlights:

  • Positivity is a learned skill, but it has become my new default.
  • It takes a lot of energy to be positive.
  • Often tools are required to be optimistic in situations not ideal.

Part of my pursuit of removing pretentiousness and bloat from my own writing. Sometimes simple messages are best told simply.

“Positivity By Force”

Volume 2, Number 3

I am an optimist, but I was not born one. I am positive by default, but it is a learned skill. I do it because I feel it increases the quality of life of myself and those around me. The funny thing about positivity — it doesn’t come as easily as negativity. Like how it takes more effort to smile than to frown, it seems reasonable to set my default state of being to within a standard deviation of neutral. The day determines if I fall to the left or right of that baseline — a slight push towards negative or positive is determined by the weather, the daily commute, or the current level of caffeine consumption. That type of life does not work for me, however. I want to be more than the sum of my reactions.

Continue reading “Positivity By Force” →

Matthew // Normal Happenings12 Comments

Be Happy for the Success of Others

Human nature is that of competition, from the ancient plains of the savannas in the past, to the girders and steel of corporate metropolises on the present, and likely the far-flung future of asteroid mining and space colonization. Because of this drive for dominance, I’m about to say something that runs counter to culture and common sense. It’s an uncomfortable request – a plea completely unnatural when intersecting with the human condition:

You should be genuinely happy for the success of others.

Normal Happenings isn’t about telling you what to do – it’s more about the exploration of concepts that can lead to a bigger appreciation for life. However, in this particular case, I’m asking you: please try to be happy when good things happen to others. It will lead you to a better life. Continue reading “Be Happy for the Success of Others” →

Matthew // Normal Happenings5 Comments

Happiness Isn’t a Limited Resource (But It Sure Is Rare)

The topic of happiness has been on my mind lately, and so I’d like to spend the next two blog posts discussing its purpose in appreciating everyday life.

Small, quiet elements of the human experience confuse me far more than they should. Why do 20% of people, myself included, automatically sneeze when they go out into the sun? What is with people’s obsessive fascination with finding beauty in symmetrical faces and patterns? And why do people continue to imagine doing repetitive tasks long after they’re done?

Then there are the things that move beyond simple curiosities and can cause real negative effects in society. To me, one of the most egregious of these is the human nature to shoot down the happiness of others.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, or this has become such a part of daily life where you don’t even notice when it happens, I urge you to keep an ear to the ground on the daily conversations surrounding you. Listen to the ebb and flow of discourse when one person mentions a truly positive event in their life that makes them happy. Unless the other person has specifically trained themselves to take joy in the happiness of others, their automatic instinct is normally to attempt to balance the scales and introduce negative repercussions into the circumstances of the happy person.

Continue reading “Happiness Isn’t a Limited Resource (But It Sure Is Rare)” →

Nikki // Normal Happenings3 Comments

Light

– By Nikki –

I hear a voice more harsh than a gunshot whispering in my ear.

“No one will understand, listen, or care about you,” it claims, wrapping it’s arms around my neck and dragging me out of the existing moment I am participating in. I struggle against the weight of the constricting arms that are slowly choking me to death. I try to to verbalize what is going on, but all that I see is your hard face not noticing me.

I close my eyes and allow the darkness to overtake me.

I don’t feel anything.
I don’t have an opinion. Continue reading “Light” →

Matthew // Normal Happenings17 Comments

The Courage of Stars: Finding Personal Truth in an Unsupportive World

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This post contains two mild trigger warnings:
First, I briefly talk about my own panic attacks, particularly in regards to self-doubt. Proceed with caution if you’re prone to anxiety. Second, I delve into my own spiritual beliefs as part of my own identity, but I have no desire to push those on other people.

This post is best read along with the song “Saturn” by Sleeping at Last. However, if you haven’t heard it, I recommend experiencing it for the first time with the music video. You can always hit restart while you’re reading through this post. Trust me, you’ll want to.

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You taught me the courage of stars /
before you left 

Continue reading “The Courage of Stars: Finding Personal Truth in an Unsupportive World” →

Matthew // Normal HappeningsLeave a comment

A Romanticized Notion

You’ve been here before, and here you’ve returned to this very spot. At a crossroads in life, you find yourself unhappy with what you’re becoming and the places you’re headed. You stare out, deep into the night, and waves of discontentment suddenly come rolling in like breakers into the side of a cliff. You’ve traveled the same roads over and over again, wearing them down along with you. You’re ready for a change.

As you look up at the blue sky that you used to love, you think of how you once found happiness, but it was so long ago you can hardly remember how it felt. You were in love once, with a person or a place or a calling. Your future was so bright. But now responsibility doesn’t feel as grand as it used to be, and neither do the people you feel compelled to be responsible for. Looking for an escape, your mind suddenly opens to the possibilities. There’s a great big world out there, you think, rife with opportunities to take away the pain and give me something I can appreciate. I can find peace and comfort, abandoning this drudgery of a life for something I truly love. I don’t have to take this anymore. Continue reading “A Romanticized Notion” →