I read an article a while back about a woman who left her Christmas trees up too long. She got ostracized, or something.
Maybe just a simple teasing? Was it her community, or the internet? I don’t remember.
Did she end up actually having COVID-19? Maybe it was Cancer? I don’t remember.
It’s not really a rare scenario. I see holiday decorations left up way too long all the time.
I’ve even been planning on writing a song parody expressing my frustration with it.
But also, how I feel it’s right to temper that part of yourself that wants to taunt or criticize someone for it.
Rather than giving you a long-winded explanation, I’ll use this little triangle I’ve developed to explain what I feel about….
the sensation you get when seeing holiday banners left up for way too long.
Since this is my second post about lawn ornaments, it would only be appropriate to keep it short and sweet, right?
I’ll drill it into you as quickly as I can by telling you this.
An 7 year old can totally wrap their head around what’s implied by Valentine’s Day decorations lingering around well after Saint Patrick’s day.
One of these three things took place- the person didn’t feel like doing anything, the person was too busy to remember to do anything, or the person didn’t have the ability to do anything.
It gets a smirk at the absolute most from a 10 year old.
But an adult heart, filled with positive energy, can feel something much deeper.
Perhaps it will result in outward mockery or criticism, or a mild scorn that results in no tangible actions, or even defending the person.
A child will see the decoration mistake as a funny little event created by failing to do things like everyone else, and fail to take it any further.
But an adult heart’s will get excited, enticed, tantalized, by that part of themselves trying to understand what to feel in such a moment. They are much more likely to care, and take a stance for something so trivial. And they’ll enter a state that remind themselves of the positive energy they exercise so often.
That they’ve forged within themselves over decades.
To see a problem that can apparently be fixed so easily, not knowing exactly what barriers are in the way of the homeowner from doing what they should, seeing them unwilling to make the adjustments to the front of their home, and you having no way to communicate with the culprit…..it kind of makes your heart sing a little, doesn’t it?
There’s a problem that can be easily solved, but overwhelming little social barriers are in the way, and it tickles that part of you that wants to cause trouble for good reasons.
The passive anguish of not getting to do anything about it makes you restless, and you consider forgetting about your disgust.
But your ability to acknowledge that disdain for yourself seems to set fire to your resolve.
You’re not that uncivilized and out of control, are you?
That smile inside is the origin of all the rudeness you can’t fight.
Holiday decorations are normally not sources of disagreement or negative energy. But just thinking about making a talking point out of it makes you feel something almost similar to falling in love or something, doesn’t it?
It’s such an awkward thing to criticize someone about, so out of line but strangely humble, right? You get that cheeky squirming feeling which tells you,
I’m not a little kid looking for reasons to make fun of someone.
I’m looking for sources of nice-feeling social energy.
I’m doing this because it feels way more positive and clever than it does…negative and dull.
Let me just stop you right there.
This is the moment at which human beings need to be hugged.
When they feel like they are embraced by the essence of down-to-earth and practical niceness with a shrewd and interesting edge.
If we are to change.
The hardest thing to stop, the hardest thing to bring down, the hardest thing push in another direction, the hardest thing to damper just a little bit, is a human being who’s got this warm tickle in their heart, telling them, “this is some good vibe shit I’m doing”.
If you can be motivated to freeze yourself, hug yourself, leash yourself, to the very core,
when you feel supremely and calmly and wonderfully excited by your own actions,
then there would be…..relative…..world peace.
Solving problems by making them is necessary. Getting people to not exploit you is necessary. Becoming uncomfortable is necessary.
Letting your heart feel big and acting upon that is necessary.
But when those things catch you on fire and lead you to do things you know are extreme,
that is the moment at which it’s best to restrain yourself.
Restrain yourself when you feel like a big brained adult just doing big brained adult things.
and restraint and inaction feel like a redundant and childish and damnation of you.
If we could all do that,
all just generally do that,
things wouldn’t be so painful for everyone.
Half the blame lies on people trying to preach detachment from ones desires.
Because the extreme things we do aren’t often a product of base desire,
as much as they come from knowing you, and everyone,
is always creating problems, exploiting someone, and generating discomfort, no matter what the hell they’re doing.
And that there’s no such thing as pure behavior, not ever.
If you want to wrap your head around why an adult would even begin to want to tease someone for their mistakes,
remember inside their head, they feel like a problem solver still,
they feel like a behavior-controlling person still,
they feel like they know how to make things uncomfortable in a good way, still.
They’ve got that inner magic
you have to see with eyes that feel like silver,
if you are to keep it from getting offended,
if you are to justly manipulate those around you
into being not triggered so hard.
I’d wish for a holiday named after whenever we finally learn how to shut our mouths
without shutting down our dreams.
When fights finally just stop, because the futility of inaction does not inspire so well.
Happy Lightdim?
The Found Emotion (Invoke Yourself) 