OT:Practical psychology-What gets you through the day? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 02:13:29 pm
content: I've often wondered what PERSONAL psychological insights have been the most useful in navigating everyday life. For instancewhen a car driver cuts me up on my motorcycle and I get angry I tell myself to "Calm down and don't let their anger become your problem"Also during spells of unemployment I've had to "Stay positive" just to motivate myself to apply for jobs. When I'm on a long cycle ride (20 miles or more) I have to play mind games with myself to keep pushing the pedals whilst exhausted.Another example is when dealing with criticism at work (from colleagues at work). I also have demanding students wanting me to solve their technical problems "instantly" and I have a sore well bitten tongue as a result.What "practical" psychological tricks/attitudes/outlooks work for you.I might further my quest for enlightenment by reading the following bookshttp://www.amazon.com/Self-Help-Classics-Inspirational-Transform-Contemporary/dp/1857883233andhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Mans-Search-Meaning-classic-Holocaust/dp/1844132390/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370785457&sr=1-1&keywords=mans+search+for+meaningWhat works for you?PS I've already read books by Freud and Carl Jung (very interesting) and my current favourite Alan Watts, so I've made a start.Oh, and I hope this thread doesn't start discussing about religion. PLEASE.

author: lemmegraphdat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 03:06:54 pm
content: When anybody at work has something "constructive" to share, I just don't say anything. It really bugs 'em. "Aren't you going to talk to me?" I know that they just want to get my goat. I just look at them like they are stupid. They on the other hand can't resist when I offer some truly insightful commentary, always got to respond back. They get all upset over nothing. Great fun.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 04:16:55 pm
content: Whenever I'm stressed etc, I just drive up the arse of a motorcyclist in my car. hehe, no, only joking, I actually really hate people who do that! But sometimes looking at things from a lighter-side can really help.

author: Alana
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 06:47:24 pm
content: I imagine myself that i am an agent from outer space living on earth and that those people who bug me are primordial ooze compared to our kind and other things like that based on K-pax movie and books.Basically - i went nuts in order not to go insane.

author: plesa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 07:47:08 pm
content: That always pulls me from a bad mood and make my day brighter

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 08:06:58 pm
content: Quote from: djsb on June 09, 2013, 02:13:29 pmJust be happy you live in a country where nobody has to die from hunger or easely cureable deceases.One of my customers has experienced WW-II as a kid. Back then he lived in Amsterdam in an area with many Jewish people. A lot of non-Jewish people helped hiding their neighbours from deportation (and certain death). The nazis didn't like that so they picked up 3 men and had everyone from the neighbourhood go to a square where the 3 men where shot dead as a public warning. My customer witnessed that event. Nowadays there is a statue to remind people of this horrific event. My customer has several pictures of that statue on the wall. He told me that whenever things where going bad for him he looks at the pictures or even drives to the statue and reminds himself that despite the severity of his problems nobody is going to die or suffer physical discomfort.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 09:43:44 pm
content: I know it's not going to be popular here, so I'll just say this in general terms: for me, it's my spirituality. I don't know how I could get through without it. It's very easy for me to go into a panicky "what-if" mode where I'm worried about everything, and that helps me to calm down and say "it will happen exactly how it's supposed to". And so far, it has. Everything for a reason, and a reason for everything.Oh, and my cat. She's very calming.

author: lemmegraphdat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2013, 11:57:52 pm
content: My decision making paradigm is that I don't get ulcers, I give them.

author: gregariz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2013, 01:26:41 am
content: With regard to the Bike... I'd suggest you buy a truck and roll the windows down.As regards the job, its really the human condition isn't it.. which has been going on for a while now, so self help books can be a bit like business books. You'll be able to go into a bookshop and find they all say something different but you'll find one in the end that meets your minds eye.I used to do a little teaching and found it pretty unrewarding. I loved the electronics but dealing with disinterested people is just a downer even if some are keen, many are not. Now I find it annoying because often both teachers and students are clueless as to how the world of work actually works. And since work is such a big part of life, I'd suggest the answer may be there. You can take your pick of philosophers and philosophical direction but most at least will talk about Aristotle. He gave 3 conceptions of fulfillment;1. A life devoted to pleasure2. A life devoted to politics, and honour3. A life devoted to intellectual enquiry and reflection.He suggests that if you have a brain #3 is best as you'll be using yourself to the full. Other than that I find that stuff in my personal life has a big impact. When I was young I went to the doctor and she told me to get a girlfriend. That helps unless she ends up a nutter (~50% in my exp). Alan Watts had a bunch of kids I believe. And since you mentioned Alan Watts...

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 10, 2013, 01:28:31 am
content: My piano teacher in college told me to get a girlfriend. It took me 15 years to figure out what he was trying to tell me.

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 10, 2013, 01:39:18 am
content: Plotting how to go on a killing spree at work and get away with it...Nah, I just think of regardless how bad it gets, it can't be worse than some African war orphan in a refugee camp.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2013, 01:44:14 am
content: Quote from: djsb on June 09, 2013, 02:13:29 pmBoobies.I guess I'm really shallow. Really could not care less.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2013, 01:47:22 am
content: Lets thank Jesus for starving Africans!May the thought of those starving to death brighten our day!HallelujahAmen

author: lemmegraphdat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2013, 02:34:37 am
content: No. 3. Found a short story by Christopher Anvil. That would be fun. With a little help from an INSTIM mark IV.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2013, 02:43:07 pm
content: Quote from: djsb on June 09, 2013, 02:13:29 pm"This is a fascinating, sophisticated and very human book. At times, Frankl's personal and professional discourses merge into a style of tremendous power. "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is", Frankl writes. "After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."With spirituality being the defining characteristic of his example of a man at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum to the type that "invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz", I'm left wondering to what lesser degree, and where about, between to two, he would place the type of victim who entered the gas chamber "lacking" in spiritual conviction, consolation and righteousness. Can one dare to assume that they may have entered the gas chambers "upright" too?I prefer the writings of survivors of essentially secular bent who lack this type of prejudice. Primo Levi and Filip Muller are a couple of good examples. MullersEyewitness Auschwitzis particularly noteworthy in this regard.As for further insight into the darker side of "man" from a perspective of the holocaust, Christopher Browning'sOrdinary Menand Richard Rhodes'Masters of death (the SS-einsatzgruppen)are mandatory reading. Klee, Dressen and Riess'The Good Old Daysis an excellent source for cross-reference. The true horror of the holocaust is told in the part of the story preceding the existence of the gas chambers. While edifying, these books are far from uplifting, and therefore quite unlikely to cheer you up; and especially so, given that your motivation for touching upon the topic of the most notable mass murder in history appears to be seeking therapy for your troubles at workNo spiritualist BS to be found between those pages.

author: WV1800es
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2013, 03:25:41 pm
content: When it gets rough- this works for a LOT of possibly terminal stress situations- use this breathing trick. Inhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, and exhale for a count of 4. Repeat.... It seems to make everything slow down, and get steady.

author: lemmegraphdat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2013, 12:01:30 am
content: Quote from: WV1800es on June 10, 2013, 03:25:41 pmInhale, hold it, take a shot of whiskey. Exhale. Inhale, hold it, take a shot o' whiskey. Exhale. In, hold, shot o' whiskey.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2013, 01:34:46 am
content: Worrying is like chewing bubble gum to solve an algebra equation.Baz Luhrman

author: WV1800es
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2013, 06:44:47 pm
content: Quote from: lemmegraphdat on June 11, 2013, 12:01:30 amYUP!! THAT'S the Stuff!! I started on the 11th, I'm out of whiskey now.....

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2013, 07:26:53 pm
content: If you're at work, you might not want to play this out loud.

author: N2IXK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2013, 11:20:05 pm
content: Quote from: lemmegraphdat on June 11, 2013, 12:01:30 amThe inhaling and holding it might work even better if you substitute something else for the whiskey....

author: WV1800es
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 19, 2013, 07:37:29 pm
content: Quote from: N2IXK on June 18, 2013, 11:20:05 pmOH MAN!! What a BLAST from the Kozmic Kustomization Kupboard - Yup, and put some "Cheap Suit Serenaders" on the turntable.....It's ALLL All Right!