![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Go ahead and feel
It's all right to feel what you feel. Even if it seems contradictory. Joy and gladness are not limited, nor are pain and sadness. Other people's problems don't mean you can't be glad that something has gone right for you--or unhappy that something has gone wrong, even if it's comparatively minor.
Re: I think that we've all gotten used to being lectured by prigs, you see.
A good friend of mine told me something very valuable: it is possible to count joy and sorrow on separate axes, rather than subtracting one from the other and then concluding that, overall, one is happy or unhappy.
Separate Axes ... :-)
It's like the "dinner" and "dessert" compartments of your stomach ... you can be totally "flup" and can't manage another bite of, say, turkey dinner ... and still have room for christmas pudding (or alternatives for vegetarians etc.)
I was watching people on TV devastated by the destruction, happy at the survival of their family/friends, unhappy about what was going to happy next and smiling because they were on TV ... and *all* those emotions were valid and simultaneous ...
... we are complex beings and the ability to hold two mutually exclusive ideas in our heads at the same time is part of our ability to be creative and intelligent.
If I'm asked whether I'm happy at the moment ... then it becomes a complex question ... but there is definitely happiness in there ...
... life is more like a mixed salad, and asking whether it is "lettuce" or "tomato" is actually a bad question ... it's both, and it's varying amounts of each in each mouthful.
Re: Separate Axes ... :-)
You've just ended up in my file of random quotes. That was really nicely put.
*blush*