Saturday, September 11, 2010

princess pride does the opposite

I have this working theory about ego and behavior -- that any time ego is telling you to do something, you should do the exact opposite of that thing.

For instance, sometimes Princess Pride gets an injury. Sometimes the injury is deliberate: Person A, who makes all kinds of decisions based on ego and doesn't give a poop, insults and condescends and degrades. Sometimes the injury is accidental: Person B, who is awesome in 1,000 different ways, injures Princess simply by being awesome. (In which case, it isn't actually Person B who injured Princess, it was Princess's alter-ego, Insecurity, who turned and injured from the inside.)

At any rate, I have had fleeting moments of clarity when Princess received an injury, and I made myself do the exact opposite of my most immediate urge -- most immediate urge being to injure back -- to insult, degrade, belittle; and the exact opposite being -- to compliment Person A or B on the accomplishment in question.

In those moments in which Princess has suffered injury, and I have done the exact opposite of my most immediate urge, I have experienced a 100% rate of improved fuzzy bunny feelings. 100%. I cannot think of a single time that I implemented this scientifically-approved strategy without positive effect/affect.

On the flip side, I can think of MANY times in which I did NOT implement this strategy, that Princess was injured, and I followed my most immediate urges. In these cases, I have experienced a nearly 100% rate of worsened feelings. Maybe not immediately, but always eventually. I say "nearly 100%" because there are so many times, I'm sure I've lost track and cannot report this statistical analysis with a spreadsheet or a color-coded bar graph.

Now, here is where I reiterate this other working theory that I have that says there is only one system, one cycle, in existence, and it repeats itself in varying forms and at varying scales. That is, our personal, biological systems and cycles mirror systems in forests and oceans and politics and tupperware production and cat mating rituals and how televisions work. Therefore, if we get to know one system (to me, it makes sense to start with self. But you could also start by studying trees, if you'd prefer.), we will have enough understanding to apply elsewhere.

After careful self ego Princess Pride injury do the opposite study, I have concluded that we could replicate this on a global scale. There are matters of national security, of course, that must be handled. But I think even that could be handled compassionately. Sadly, it would really only work if everyone did it. And I'm not that delusional. But, it really really makes me love the living crap out of ideas like Stephanie's:


I think September 11 is as good a day as any to not let Princess Pride run the show. That's kind of what caused the mess in the first place.

(in my humble opinion)

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