Posted on 07/30/2006 6:29:45 PM PDT by sig226
I posted this on another board, and I'm adding it here as much for my own benefit as to see if anyone else might like to join in and accentuate the positive.
I was looking for something to read last week and Discover Magazine (August, 2006 issue) was the only thing in the rack that caught my eye. There was a picture of Einstein on the cover.
Inside was an article about Martin Seligman, a psychologist who has been studying happiness, and how to create it in individuals. Seligman is an experienced researcher. He worked on an experiment that measured the desire of the subjects to remove themselves from unpleasant situations. The work began using dogs and electric shocks. It was done later with humans, using annoying sounds.
He discovered that if there was a way for the dog to escape the situation, the dog would flee. If there was no escape, many of the dogs would give up. When a way to escape was later introduced, many of the dogs didn't bother. He called this, "learned helplessness."
But some of the dogs never gave up, and this intrigued Seligman. A third of the dogs, and people, could not be forced to feel helpless. Seligman began to study what affects happiness in people.
Although genetics are part of it, circumstances outside the person's control are not as important as one might think. Mentally, lottery winners were no better off a year later compared to people who did not win the lottery. A study of recent victims of paralysis indicated that their happiness was not affected by the condition.
I left out a lot of this, but Seligman concluded that there are some elements of personal happiness that the person can't control - heredity and outside events. Factors under the person's control can be emphasized, and used to change the person's perception of happiness and sadness. Seligman began a program of personal training to try to improve people's mental states.
He had worked with depression and suicide, but decided to change the focus of his work to study what makes people happy and how to control that.
He found three important things to focus a person on happiness. One is gratitude. Taking the time to write a personal letter to someone to thank them for something that helped improves the letter writer's outlook.
Another is for the person to identify their own personality strengths and find new ways to use one of their strengths every day.
Third, which is where I want to focus, is to find three good things every day. Find three things that went well every day, and write down the events and their causes.
Studies of learning consistently demonstrate that writing down information is the best way to learn it. I think that writing down three positive things every day won't be a magical change in anyone's personality, but it will remind the person to remember that good things happen, despite the bad things that we often experience.
I think these things don't have to be incredibly grand, or even particulary important. We don't have to cure cancer or have a grandchild, just find three good things that happened today. We write down what happened, and how we made it happen.
I think that over time, anyone who does this will be retraining their mind to look for good things, and to find them no matter how difficult it may seem.
This doesn't mean that you should be happy when you realize that you lost the winning lottery ticket. That would be stupid. It means that no matter what, you find three good things each day and remind yourself how you made them good.
Today I had a customer buy a Kel Tec .380 and take it into the range. She bought it for CCW. I suggested the pocket clip that attaches to the frame, and she loved the idea. I attached it. The extractor kept jumping the rims. We tried different holds, different ammunition, etc. I took the thing into the shop and disassembled it. The factory grease in the extractor was about the consistency of glue. I cleaned it out, lubed it, and it worked perfectly. We sent her out with Remington Core Lokt ammunition because the brass is stronger than most brands and the nickel plating adds a little strength.
My customer has a new gun that functions properly. If she ever needs to defend herself, she'll be ready. I learned all this stuff over the last ten years, and the other guys in the shop couldn't help her. I love this job.
I packed up my Springfield. It goes to Walter Birdsong tommorrow for the Black T finish. When it comes back, I have all the parts to make a pistol that is both stunning to look at and stunning to shoot.
I ate a big ass plate of trash pile nachos today because I love nachos with cheese and beef and salsa and jalapenos and all that gook. Food is good. I love food.
On a bonus positive note, by posting this on another board first, I was able to correct all the grammar and spelling mistakes before I put it here.
Well, I hope I did. :<)
I beg you to add some keywords so that the clueless can find such a clue.... what is all this?
I just got back from a funeral (really). Some of the family members behaved terribly prior to the death, and after. Pond scum looks good by comparison.
This was very timely. Thanks for posting.
So here goes:
1. I just watched Superman Returns. It was great.
2. It rained while we were watching the movie, and the world was fresh and clean when we came out.
3. My father-in-law found peace before he died.
I read that article. I usually just skim through that magazine but that article caught my attention and I read the whole thing.
I think that the guy in the red shirt might be Gay, the guy in the middle...no doubts
God bless, I hope your father in law really did find peace, and I hope is at peace now.
It's positivity. What keywords would be appropriate?
1. One of my Sunday School guys wants to meet with me this Friday night for discipleship training.
2. My other Sunday School high school and college students seemed to understand the lesson.
3. It's cooler in L.A. today.
My KT 3AT FTF's on my practice ammo and FTE's on my carry ammo. Gotta get on the stick and send it back to Cocoa.
Before you send it back to Kel Tec:
You can open the extractor yourself by removing the screw that retains the extractor spring on the outside of the slide. This will also release the firing pin and spring, so keep your thumb over the back of the slide when you do it.
I would remove the firing pin, spring, extractor, and spring, and inspect for mung. Clean the parts and the areas with GunScrubber and 0000 steel wool. I used blue LocTite to secure the extractor screw. Put it by the screw head because the tip of the screw doesn't sit in the threads. A notch in the firing pin must be oriented to accommodate the extractor screw and to trap the firing pin in the slide. Dried up grease will cause FTF's in the most expensive bolt rifle you can name.
If that doesn't correct the problem, the mung could also be in the hammer spring and between the hammer and hammer frame. I'd send it to a good gunsmith and ask for it to be stripped - not just field stripped - and cleaned and lubed with synthetic oil like Break Free or G 96.
Kel Tec will probably just replace your pistol and the new one will have the same problem. Or else, they will put the same grease in it and it will do it again.
Was the theory on learned optimism similiar to this approach?
My three today:
1. I grilled a huge pile of many different kinds of sausages and it was like a party just having lunch.
2. I did a lot of physical work today and it hurt, but I'm thankful b/c I used to be in a wheelchair.
3. My kids are excited about a change we're making and that makes it worth all the trouble.
A year or two ago there was another study on happiness. The people in some villages in Mexico, for example, were happy even though they were dirt poor. One huge factor was religion. Might that be a reason conservatives are happier than liberals?
1. I just got a date.
2. It's not a blind date.
3. Didn't meet her on an internet dating service.
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