Warning -- Very Serious Post With Spiritual Content.

Hi!

Welcome to DT. Hope all is well with everyone. Got some really good writing done yesterday afternoon, which improved my mood immensely.

One cool thing about writing. It makes you think. Sometimes fun stuff. Sometimes serious things.

One of the things that has come up in the book(s) is handling grief and rage. We put our characters through the wringer sometimes. Sometimes its in the name of plot. Sometimes for versimillitude (sp?). But one of the things about rage/hurt/anger and the negative emotions that have been triggered by another person (deliberately or not) is that at some point you have to choose to let them go or you are giving away your life. The person who hurt you is in control so long as what THEY did is controlling what YOU do. You have to decide (consciously or otherwise) that you're NOT going to let them take away another second of your happiness. Then every time it comes up, you have to choose it again.

It's incredibly hard. A lot of people don't succeed at it. They get stuck in the anger and hurt. It's all they think about; all they want to talk about. Which is at the heart of a lot of BITTER people who have driven off all their supporters and end up even more angry and alone.

I think, in part, that is why most of the religions of the world (maybe all, but I haven't looked into all of them, so I can't say) put so much focus on forgiveness. They want you to forgive yourself, and forgive others, so that you can actually move on to something positive and re-connect with joy and with God. (If you don't believe in God, just go for the joy. I do believe.) Without joy, it's very hard to create anything positive. Negative/destructive feelings breed negative/destructive actions which influence other people making them.... (you get the idea). It is more succinctly and colorfully put in the time honored adage. "Shit flows downhill."

BUT so does good stuff. A positive, energetic attitude is just as contagious. You can CATCH someone's enthusiasm. When you hear an infectious laugh, you may laugh too -- even if you didn't hear the joke.

So, our characters get to go through the wringer -- but they have to come out the other side: thoughtful, but hopefully whole. And that, my friends, is almost as tricky to pull off in fiction as it is in real life.

But it's a choice. Then again, most things in life are.

Have a great day.

(PS -- These are, of course, Cie's views. Cathy hasn't looked at, approved, or doesn't necessarily agree with the post. She might, or not, but I haven't checked one way or the other.)