Why One, But Not the Other?

[wlotus]

There is a lot of angst and sadness and anger in the world, and I seem to be able to easily, instinctively absorb those feelings from others. I wonder why I do not internalize others' happiness in that way. Their happiness, while real to me, is always separate from my own feelings. In contrast, I feel their sadness as though it is my own.

Comments

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you need to tweak your cognitive temperance filters.

Worked for me. :-)

Sadness, fear, and anger unfortunately, does have an 'odor' that is difficult to remove from the soul. It needs to be bleached out with plenty of sunshine. Music is a great agent for this. Use liberally.

Hmmmmm...

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I was worried this was just how my temperament worked--I am beginning to identify reasons why my temperament got tuned in that way--but your comment gives me hope. I like both sunshine and music. Does getting a lot of both really help? Did you do other things to tweak your filters?

Re: Hmmmmm...

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

Changed my diet. Upgraded my Vitamin D levels (both with supplements and actual sunshine). Started listening to the voices in my head (they're not all bad- sometimes they have really good ideas!).

Paid attention. I do a lot of living through my ears. I noted that a lot of things drifting into my hearing were things that shifted my mood, sometimes negatively. So, I started working on finding a balance between knowledge (of sometimes negative things) and comfort (good music).

Re: Hmmmmm...

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I am going to fine tune these things and see what happens in the months to come. Thanks!

Re: Hmmmmm...

[sandokai.livejournal.com]

I second Vitamin D. It's amazing (both pill and sunshine forms)