janbeek

Hey World, Are You Awfulizing?

Chase unhappiness –
Just pursue awfulizing –
Make matters worse!

Psychiatrist, Albert Ellis, coined the phrase “awfulizing” and wrote that it is “engaging in the pursuit of unhappiness.” Is that what our nation is doing in this Coronavirus pandemic?

Dr. Ellis says,
“… when we look at circumstances and are overwhelmed by them, we become part of a society that has an abundance of illogical ideas and philosophies that lead to self-defeating patterns or neurosis.”

Flood the toilet paper aisles
with frenzied shoppers
filling their carts
and fighting over
the last roll!

A couple days ago, my doorbell rang. When I went to the door, I found my neighbor standing there with a broad, silly grin, holding a long stick on which he had strung four rolls of toilet paper! Some friends come to the door of 70-80 year olds in their “hoods” with food or flowers or a book to read while we’re sequestered. This neighbor shared his most precious commodity: toilet paper! Who woulda thunk it??

Shop on-line
and fill your garage
with cases of
hand-sanitizer bottles!!

How many hands did that shopper expect to cleanse?
S’pose he intended to freely share them?
Nope, he was hoarding
with the intent of selling them
at some exorbitant price in the future –
gouging people!

Flock to places like Shedhorn Sports here in Ennis, Montana,
and purchase every last gun and all the ammunition you can carry!

Sure enough,
these behaviors
will solve
this awful
COVID-19 problem!

NOT!!

James R. Hine, in his essay,
The Situation is Hopeless but not Serious ,
wrote the following:

“The decisions we make are rarely perfect. But if we make a decision based on our best judgment and with God’s help, we should let it stand.”

He was reminding us that we cannot go back and change the past. We can’t undo the mistakes that got us into this mess that sounds hopeless. But, we can look forward, learn from the past, and move into the future with greater wisdom, with love, and with a hope that keeps our spirits up.

In that same essay, Hine wrote,

“I will never preach like Peter nor pray like Paul,
but I can minister in my own way
and be acceptable to God in that role.
You and I are not perfect, but we are unique.”

Here I am with my accordion a few Christmases ago…
Unique, indeed!!
And so is Andrew with his trombone!

In your own unique way, avoid “AWFULIZING”
and move forward in hope.
This is serious, but it’s not hopeless!

James R. Hine,
The Situation is Hopeless, but Not Serious

Let me leave you with another quote from Hine:
“Through that which is deemed hopeless – the present – there arises a fresh hope, a new vision, and a world of creative possibilities.
It is in the dead of night. Sodom and Gomorrah, the evil city, is burning behind us. In that burning are all the tragedies of yesterday – the pretensions, the stupidities, the ambiguities, and the moral breakdowns. We have learned hard lessons, but we will not look back. Putting our hands in the hand of God, we will move toward the hills and the dawning of a new day.”

God bless you, my friends.
Tell me what you are doing this day
to “move forward toward the hills”?

Another friend, Penny Hall, said in a podcast yesterday,
“Embrace the good with the bad,
and know there is always more good than bad in this world.”
Amen, Penny!

No Awfulizing!!!

Spread positivity, my friends.
See ya tomorrow.
JanBeek