It’s So Hard to Believe

Tags

Benjamin Franklin, Christine O'Donnell, de Tocqueville, election 2010, happiness, Jim DeMint, Joe Miller, Michael Steele, psychology, Todd Palin

I’m a really humble person. Except when I’m not. I’m not more than I am. It’s the truth. I won’t deny it.

I have a healthy ego. I’m not insufferably stupid by a long shot, so intuitively, intellectually, and soulfully, I know that you don’t hang on every pearl of wisdom dripping from my typing fingers. I know you don’t expect to be enlightened ala the Buddha and damned if I can find a Bodhi trees around here anyway! I know you don’t expect the latest news and perfect analysis.

But I do believe all that in the secret place within my heart. Which means that I’m shocked, nay, bowled over, nay, near stricken with palsy, that some people (don’t worry, I won’t out you!) have become just the slightest bit borrrrrrdddd with my incessant lamentations on Facebook about my “ad troubles.”

In case you have missed it, I’m being bombarded by ads on Facebook which has slowed my already snail-paced leviathan of a computer to an inch an hour speed. And of course, nobody on FB seems to share my dilemma or my anger.

First I went to Firefox which solved the problem for two days, and then the ads returned. Then I googled around and found an adware block designed for Firefox, and I installed it. It worked perfectly but pretty much ground everything else to a halt.

So, I disabled it for most everything, and figured, okay, I’ll just use it for FB. Well, apparently it doesn’t play nice with other code, so “the troubles”  continued. So, I uninstalled the entire crappy thing.

Then I discovered that goggle was now offering a toolbar access to a limited FB on a little drop down. That wouldn’t load on Foxfire, but did on Explorer. Go figure. So far it seems to fit the bill in terms of letting me see my “news” and “wall” and “notifications” and “messages.” I can “comment” and “share.” I feel all warm and fuzzy again.

But I’ll be sure to keep you up to date. I  know you wanna share it with your family and friends over dinner no doubt. And if you have advice? Go ahead and share. Just remember I have D I A L – U P,  so treat me as a nearly extinct Tyrannosaurus.

***

Besides feeling all cuddly and wiggly, I’m cozying up to some goodly written stuff today. So do drop over to the quarterly, City Journal and read a great piece on happiness and the American manner of mucking it all up and making it a trial. Indeed from de Tocqueville on, we have been rightly perceived as a not so happy bunch here in Merika the great. Lots of interesting stuff on Benji  Franklin as well, another favorite of mine. Best lines:

If men are so bad with religion, just imagine what they would be like without it.

“Let us rejoice and bless God that we are neither Oysters, Hogs, or Dray-Horses; and not stand repining that He has not made us Angels; lest we be found unworthy of that share of Happiness He has thought fit to allow us.”

And that about says it all doesn’t it? (Note that the author of the piece has a book out called: Benjamin Franklin Unmasked. Might be worth a check out.

***

A book review you might enjoy is What Ever Happened to Modernity? by Gabriel Josipovici. He traces the movement from the 16th century forward through a line of philosophers. If ever you have difficulty with philosophy, then books such as this, I think serve to help us navigate. Ormsby writes in the WSJ, so you know it’s highbrow.

***

Tidbits from the insane:

• Todd Palin, hubby of the Palinator is mighty pissed that Joe Miller, who owes his political life to said Mooselini, refused to endorse her.   One can commiserate, Todd.  After all, she is your meal ticket ya know.
• Meanwhile, Christine (no sex for you)O’Donnell struts her international cahones by claiming that China was plotting the overthrow of the US.
• Jim (I’m riding this gravy train!) DeMint says that sexually active single women and gays need not apply to teach school. Guess sexually active men are okay though. Whew, glad somebody is left!
• Michael (my mojo still works for me!) Steele, has no clue what the minimum wage is. Fine as long as you are purporting to speak for your party and their concerns about the little folk.

***

Everywhere you go we keep hearing that the Dems are polling better and the Rethugs worse as election day approaches. The Daily Kos has some interesting speculations as to why this is.

Related Articles

• What Ever Happened to Modernism? by Gabriel Josipovici | Book review (guardian.co.uk)
• Are These Emails Proof Sarah Palin Is Running For President? (mediaite.com)
• Leaked Emails: Sarah Palin Doesn’t Give Out Endorsements for Nothing [Emails] (gawker.com)

Power to Reinvent Yourself

Tags

Book Reviews, Jason Frenn, lifestyle, psychology

Let me thank the Hachette Group who graciously sent me a copy of Jason Frenn‘s new book Power to Reinvent Yourself: How to Break the Destructive Patterns in Your Life for this review.

As regular readers of this blog well know, I’m not high on “self-help” books in general. While the fault may lie equally between author and reader, one generally offers too much, and the other expects too much.

We are all unique combinations of genes and life experiences. It stands to reason that what works for one won’t work for most others. Therefore, I believe most self-help books actually “work” for a small number of people only, leaving the rest sometimes worse than they were before.

That being said, I do think that these types of books do offer important insights, if we approach them as such, rather than as cure-alls. Jason Frenn has indeed accomplished that in a number of ways.

Generally speaking Mr. Frenn offers the reader a series of steps to achieve a major change in life. The change can revolve around virtually any perceived problem–alcohol, sex addiction, an unhappy career, financial woes. The same basic steps apply to each and every one.

Many of the steps will be fairly well known to anyone who has read such books in the past. However, again, I think Mr. Frenn offers some unique insights.

The first is that we must identify the root problem we are unhappy about. It is not enough to say we want to lose weight for instance. We must uncover why. And it is not enough to say that we want to be healthier. The more pertinent question is why do we want to be healthier. Fear of dying young might be the real reason we want to lose weight. It’s important to dig this out if we are to then face the next hurdle: what are all our reasons for not losing weight?

For as I think Frenn correctly states, we won’t lose weight and keep it off, unless our reason for losing outweighs (no pun intended) each and all our “but” reasons for continuing as we are. So that is the second quest, to uncover the strong reason for change which will overcome our inertia and all the lazy reasons we dream up to not do the work.

Another powerful insight, is that we must examine in detail how we view the world, and how that view lines up against reality. Are we in step with the way successful people see things? What life experiences have perhaps shaded our perceptions?  See the world as it is rather than as we have erroneously perceived it helps us to see how to go about making the necessary changes.

Mr. Frenn peppers his book with “life stories” to illustrate the points he wishes to make. They help show how for instance we might look at the “pay off” for our bad behavior and how we might find a healthier substitute.

Jason is an internationally known evangelist, writer and speaker. Thus is comes as no surprise that God is central to his message. While the non-believer can still find advice that is helpful in this book, the believer will resonate with some of his suggestions.

Believing that a loving God supports and guides us on our quest to improve our lives is helpful. Thus prayer, church attendance, and faithful support groups are exceptionally useful to one who is struggling to overcome sometimes life-long destructive patterns of behavior. Scriptural examples also abound in the text which help to illustrate how God has provided solutions or new ways of engaging that are healthy and growth oriented.

Frenn encourages establishing good behavior as a habit. He urges that we replace negative thoughts with positive ones. As we engage in helpful behaviors we are re-enforced in them. He also encourages forgiving others whom we feel betrayed by, as well as seeking forgiveness for wrongs we have done to others.

These are all part and parcel in making a total makeover of ourselves. This is perhaps unique to his book and not well pointed out. By offering changes that remake ourselves more completely, we,  it seems to me, enhance the probability of success with the original “problem.”

As I said, I don’t claim that this book will change your life, but it does, offer some very good questions to ask yourself, some insightful advice, and some gentle reminder that through it all God loves, even in our brokenness.

Mr. Frenn and I would probably not agree on a good deal theologically speaking. But I don’t find that that hampers one receiving  the message and benefiting from it. If you are struggling with some issue in your life at present, you may want to take a look at what Jason Frenn has to say about it.