77 replies to this topic

[Tender Lad]

I'm feeling pretty fuckin good today. I've got two bands I'm jamming with this week and I've got an audition for a play tonight with one of the best theater companys in town.

[The Real Jeffrey Lebowski]

in an effort to return this thread to the main topic: i'm more happy today than yesterday because i got a job offer.

Congrats!

Beard is solid.

beards produce happiness

Just now, the girl behind me @ Chipotle tried to buy my lunch when the register was spazzing out and not taking my card. Presumably because of the beard... It's magic!

[Lonna]

I think folks who tend to be happy will trend that way regardless of the circumstances... alternately folks who are chronically unhappy will tend toward depression regardless.

I'll break the pattern here & admit to being one of the latter. Things are generally good for me - rad material stuff (relatively), good family, friends, some small career success, recently managed to lose 20 lbs (really!), etc... nonetheless every day I avoid flinging myself off a building is a good day. Ain't that rotten? I need attitude adjustment. Or I need to join a hockey team where I can blow off steam reguarly.

(tell you what, though: when I'm happy my songwriting sure sucks)

Well written skeksis. I tend toward unhappiness, which leads to ungratefulness, which leads to self pity, which leads to anger and blame and so long. A simple thought can lead me down a dark road of perpetual obsession over wanting certain things and not wanting other things and thinking that somehow getting what i want and not getting what i don't want will bring me happiness.

So the question: Am I happy? I'll be honest, normally it depends on my mood and circumstance (if life and people are doing what i want, when i want, things are great). But there are rare moments when I catch myself clinging to the illusion that I will be happy when this or this happens and I choose to let go of that thought, not repress it, just let go of the obsessive deluded story. Those are the moments that I am most happy.

About songwriting and unhappiness: I used to think the two were related. That I needed to be miserable to write a good song. I used to think my best songs were when I was completely unhappy, and wrapped up in self pity. On closer examination, I realized, sometimes I write good songs and sometimes I write bad songs. End of story. Sometimes I write great songs when I'm feeling on top of the world and really bad ones when I'm depressed and then other times, it's the exact opposite. The reality is, when I get REALLY depressed, I get nothing done, no songs get written. I find that if I want to write a good song, I just have to keep writing...all the time, whether I'm happy, sad, bored, stressed, longing, tired, fat, angry...and so on, just gotta keep writing.

For me, right now...hmm, I can honestly say, I still have some pretty miserable shit*y moments, but I am also very grateful to have an extremely understand boyfriend who I love dearly and a beautiful son.

[MikeyWretch]

Ill tell you right now that if I was really unhappy and wanted to blow my face off I wouldnt post about it on a messageboard.

[raubhimself]

But there are rare moments when I catch myself clinging to the illusion that I will be happy when this or this happens and I choose to let go of that thought, not repress it, just let go of the obsessive deluded story. Those are the moments that I am most happy.

Dang. I constantly cling to that illusion. If I lived by myself I would not be distracted and I would practice guitar more and build pedals more and read comics more and play videogames more and do more things I love and not get distracted. But then my roommate will be at work all night and I will be clicking away on the Internet or flipping through channels instead of using that distraction-free time wisely. That is what makes me unhappy.

[XMark]

Happy about everything except my (lack of a) love life.

[mancopter]

Ill tell you right now that if I was really unhappy and wanted to blow my face off I wouldnt post about it on a messageboard.

Some people would, ya know.

[MikeyWretch]

Ill tell you right now that if I was really unhappy and wanted to blow my face off I wouldnt post about it on a messageboard.

Some people would, ya know.

Not me unless It was on a webcam!

[weener]

About songwriting and unhappiness: I used to think the two were related. That I needed to be miserable to write a good song.

There is a marked difference between the songs I write when happy and which ones I write when depressed, and they're both pretty good (I think).

For instance, "Battleaxe Babes" was written when I was in a manic mode, and it's all about those women from the covers of science fiction novels kicking ass in various ways.

On the other hand, "The Ferryman" was written when I was extremely depressed, and it's about a person begging the ferryman Charon to let them on the ferry across the river Styx to Hell, and being refused.

[jeremx]

i'm a pretty "glass half full" kind of person. so, when asked, i would almost always reply that i'm happy. most of the time though i'm just kind of going through the motions and praying that one day i'll know what i want to do with my life. and/or realize that doing something on a grand, universal scale doesn't have to happen for me to feel that i've made a difference to something somehow. outside of that whole hangup, and shitty money situations, i'm dating a pretty rad girl who seems to think i'm pretty rad as well so that's definitely cool. i've got awesome friends and a pretty cool family. despite arguing with four of my cousins last night why obama isn't a terrorist and why moving terror suspects from guantanamo to u.s. soil isn't going to cause 9/11 every day. that was a bit depressing. ha ha

[Jacki O.]

About songwriting and unhappiness: I used to think the two were related. That I needed to be miserable to write a good song. I used to think my best songs were when I was completely unhappy, and wrapped up in self pity. On closer examination, I realized, sometimes I write good songs and sometimes I write bad songs. End of story. Sometimes I write great songs when I'm feeling on top of the world and really bad ones when I'm depressed and then other times, it's the exact opposite. The reality is, when I get REALLY depressed, I get nothing done, no songs get written. I find that if I want to write a good song, I just have to keep writing...

i used to also think this - that unhappiness led me to greater creativity in painting and my art but the reality was when i was super depressed 3 years ago, i didn't paint one thing for a whole year. i had never felt so out of it or unhappy, and i've always, since i can remember, been drawing or painting or creating things. As i slowly climbed out of my depression, i started painting again. Im 100% more happier today than 3 years ago and my creative product is better and i am 100% more productive. and it's a happy catch-22 because painting also makes me happy. I can use the pain and unhappiness that i went through as fodder for art stuff but i'm not so in it that i'm immobilized.

[MikeyWretch]

I think depression and unhappiness makes me not want to do anything creative at the time. After I have gotten over what ever it was that was making me that way and I am able to function again, that’s when the good art/songwriting comes. Bad times make for good material after the fact... not during.

[jeremx]

I think depression and unhappiness makes you not want to do anything creative at the time. After you have gotten over what ever it was that was making you that way and you are able to function again, that’s when the good art/songwriting comes. Bad times make for good material after the fact... not during.

for me it's been the opposite.

[MikeyWretch]

I have done some song writing while mad at the world and its just HATE! I mean some times those songs are great but I like to wait and look at it from a far so I can offer a solution in my song so that whoever listens to it can feel my pain and then maybe steer clear of a similar situation,

[Lonna]

I think depression and unhappiness makes me not want to do anything creative at the time. After I have gotten over what ever it was that was making me that way and I am able to function again, that’s when the good art/songwriting comes. Bad times make for good material after the fact... not during.

with ya on that.