I am reading a fascinating book upon the recommendation of one of the brilliant, able and competent professionals in my life. The book, written by Laurence Gonzales, is Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why. The book jacket announces that these are true stories of miraculous endurance and sudden death. It goes on ti say that through case study the author illuminates “the essence of a true survivor—the internal battles that are waged between fear and hope, reason and emotion, despair and correct action.” It describes the science of survival. It also promises: Deep Survival is not going to teach you how to build a fire or find water, but you will be better able to survive any challenges you face.” The principles are universal, they promise, and apply not only to survival in the wild but also to survival in relationships, in the death of a loved one, in running a business during uncertain times or in war. The book, they promise, “will change the way we understand ourselves and experience the.world.” It already has – it is so scientific and difficult to understand making it is hard work. But it does make so much sense.
I practically fainted and died (but didn’t) when I came upon this: “To survive you must develop secondary emotions that function in a strategic balance with reason. One way to promote that balance is through humour.” (page 39). So my mighty humour strikes again! There is no doubt that I am a survivor – I want to go on and be a thriver but in the words of a spiritual: “Nobody knows the trouble I have seen.” As an example Gonzales said of a brave firefighter who could sleep on the way to a conflagration: “I could sleep with my dick slammed into a door.” To deal effectively with recognize reality you must recognize it as such, play puts a person in touch with the environment while laughter makes the feeling of being threatened manageable.
Moods are contagious emotional states involved with laughter, smiling and humor are the most contagious of all. People often remark that my laughter is contagious; I guess that is not all. I guess I should change my name to Typhoid Mary. (hahahahaha). But here is something to bore you, this very sentence. “There is evidence that laughter can send to actively inhibit the firing of nerves in the amygdala, thereby dampening fear.” Hmmmmmm. Or this one: “ Laughter stimulates the left prefrontal cortex.” I do not even know where my cortex is – I thought it had something to do with sex. So, as we Canadians say: “There you go!” I am going to count how many times I say: “There you go!” in one day. It is pathetic.
My Instagram experience is in marked contrast to my blogging experience. I purposively never receive any feedback from blog readers. I never have and never will. So friends may say that they read my blog, people may say they will read my blog but my astronomical numbers are the only proof. Whereas, with Instagram, such feedback! Well, I am very good with feedback and it is super easy to do. Why there are not more likes is beyond my comprehension as it is easy enough to do. And if you make a comment – boy do you hear back. Jordan, who I met while visiting in San Francisco, is a great Instagrammer. That is how we stay in touch and we joke back and forth. The content of my Instagram is far different than the blog. I video a great deal, giving my unsolicited opinions on practically any subject. But I do not take on serious subjects. I do not understand the complexities of the hard or soft ware and often have to ask Irish Cream or others for help. But it is fun and a great companion to the blog. Brother, my numbers are growing and I have NO idea who is walking me walk up and down the stairs at the Equinox gym on West Georgia Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I pick up my phone and somebody has liked my post. I got an incredibly precious gift this morning when someone I knew for 19 years (and had lost touch with ) started following me. Boy is she regretting it! hahahaha So, as much as I hate to admit it, I do love feedback. Now why in the world I am alexismctwit on Instagram? I have no idea, but it is rather fun. I am thinking of fictionalizing portions of my life. I have decided that my fake name will be Alicia McTwit – it has a certain ring to it, a certain authority.
Life can be fascinating. A 54 year old woman came back into my life, accompanied by a sweet and wonderful husband. They live in the United States and we communicate by email. Voluntarily and freely they wrote: “Just to let you know we ill be offline for three days.” They afterwards wrote spontaneously: “We are back!” We never discussed that I have something called abandonment anxiety – they intuitively knew what to do. I was in a relationship with a man for almost two years. Despite continual prodding he could never quite manage this simple task. It was finally The Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back. Google it as I am tired of doing all of the work around here. There is an image or two – get it yourself. I have a busy day planned with a four o’clock gym appointment and perhaps some people to dinner. Now the three sentences preceding this illustrate humour.
And would you believe? The sun is shining in this fair city
