Cynicism

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Chubbo

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I’ve spent the last 48hrs, in sleepless thought. There hasn’t been a friend, or family member contact me in that time.

The reason for my being shunned, has become regrettably apparent; It’s my, constant, irresistible, criticism, of everybody, and everything. This fault is totally unwanted, but truly exists.

In retrospect, I'm in awe, and envy, our many members that, are true optimists, and have, a bright cheerful outlook on life.

I truly praise, and compliment, those admirable folks. I’d give anything I own to be like them, and won't use my usual cynicism, to judge them wrong in any way. Please forgive my criticized, overuse, of the comma key.

This is just another of my sad attempts, to explain my confessed, faults, to get forgiveness, and understanding.
 
Chubbo said:
I’ve spent the last 48hrs, in sleepless thought. There hasn’t been a friend, or family member contact me in that time.



The reason for my being shunned, has become regrettably apparent; It’s my, constant, irresistible, criticism, of everybody, and everything. This fault is totally unwanted, but truly exists.



In retrospect, I'm in awe, and envy, our many members that, are true optimists, and have, a bright cheerful outlook on life.



I truly praise, and compliment, those admirable folks. I’d give anything I own to be like them, and won't use my usual cynicism, to judge them wrong in any way. Please forgive my criticized, overuse, of the comma key.



This is just another of my sad attempts, to explain my confessed, faults, to get forgiveness, and understanding.
Click to expand...
I forgive you but question your motives LOL ;)

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk
 
Chubbo said:
I’ve spent the last 48hrs, in sleepless thought. There hasn’t been a friend, or family member contact me in that time.

The reason for my being shunned, has become regrettably apparent; It’s my, constant, irresistible, criticism, of everybody, and everything. This fault is totally unwanted, but truly exists.

In retrospect, I'm in awe, and envy, our many members that, are true optimists, and have, a bright cheerful outlook on life.

I truly praise, and compliment, those admirable folks. I’d give anything I own to be like them, and won't use my usual cynicism, to judge them wrong in any way. Please forgive my criticized, overuse, of the comma key.

This is just another of my sad attempts, to explain my confessed, faults, to get forgiveness, and understanding.
Click to expand...

You can't force yourself into optimism, but if it's causing you to lose relationships and social interaction, which you clearly seem to want (rightly so, we're social animals), you could just try knocking off voicing the negativity and critcism. Keep it in your head, smile and nod, and talk about the things you can express positivity towards. If you can't do that, you really might have some luck talking to a therapist and developing some strategies and coping mechanisms for it.
 
Chubbo said:
I’ve spent the last 48hrs, in sleepless thought. There hasn’t been a friend, or family member contact me in that time.

The reason for my being shunned, has become regrettably apparent; It’s my, constant, irresistible, criticism, of everybody, and everything. This fault is totally unwanted, but truly exists.

In retrospect, I'm in awe, and envy, our many members that, are true optimists, and have, a bright cheerful outlook on life.

I truly praise, and compliment, those admirable folks. I’d give anything I own to be like them, and won't use my usual cynicism, to judge them wrong in any way. Please forgive my criticized, overuse, of the comma key.

This is just another of my sad attempts, to explain my confessed, faults, to get forgiveness, and understanding.
Click to expand...

Wow Chubbo, I have had days that made me think Mr Murphy was actually a closet optimist.
 
Your Mom would say count to 20 today, she might even suggest 1 trillion ;)
 
Motive

akoda said:
I forgive you but question your motives LOL ;)

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I don’t quite understand your, questioning my motives. My only motives would be self-criticism, and opposition to anybody that blatantly, belittles, my opinions.
 
Hi Chubbo,


I must have missed something, because as far as I can recall, you've always been a good contributor around here. Self-reflection is a pretty clear sign of a good person, too - remember that the best time to do it isn't with a head clouded by the timeframe between midnight and dawn. Man, that's when I do it, though! What I try to do is 1) notice that I'm doing it, 2) recognize that it's not being productive after a while, 3) pay attention to relaxing everything, 4) pay attention to breathing until you're completely relaxed (counting to 50 full breaths usually does it for me), and 5) focus on thinking of something neutral - shooting .22s on a sunny day, the sun warming a rock, a specific color. That usually gets me to sleep and I find I'm thinking a little more clearly the next day. Hang tight, brother. Erich
 
Chubbo said:
I’ve spent the last 48hrs, in sleepless thought. There hasn’t been a friend, or family member contact me in that time.

The reason for my being shunned, has become regrettably apparent; It’s my, constant, irresistible, criticism, of everybody, and everything. This fault is totally unwanted, but truly exists.

In retrospect, I'm in awe, and envy, our many members that, are true optimists, and have, a bright cheerful outlook on life.

I truly praise, and compliment, those admirable folks. I’d give anything I own to be like them, and won't use my usual cynicism, to judge them wrong in any way. Please forgive my criticized, overuse, of the comma key.

This is just another of my sad attempts, to explain my confessed, faults, to get forgiveness, and understanding.
Click to expand...

I don't think you have to change who you are or even change your opinions of everybody and everything. That would be hard.

Keep your opinions and criticisms if you want, you just may not need to always express them, and keeping them to yourself can be accomplished with a little practice.

If I said everything I thought I'd be in jail by now.
 
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Lots of good advice here. I would summarize the issue thus:

Being cynical is a state of mind, usually based on a lifetime of experience.

Being critical, on the other hand, is just a behavior. And that is relatively easily moderated by good manners and a bit of humility.

I consider myself a board-certified cynic. But that cynicism applies equally to pie-in-th-sky ambitions of optimists and the doom-saying of pessimists. It’s usually easy to shred either with sarcasm bolstered by some facts. But I don’t take pleasure from offending people or starting unproductive arguments, so I only engage if either a positive effect can be hoped for, or the stakes are high enough.

That keeps things manageable.
 
You are in the company of human beings who so often fall short of our goals. Your post caused self examination and I found I too suffer these same faults. Thank you for your frankness and honesty. In your faults you have given help to many others I'm sure. God bless my man, you are doing very well. I will do better.
 
Chubbo said:
This is just another of my sad attempts, to explain my confessed, faults, to get forgiveness, and understanding.
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, you apologized for your cynicism just recently. Maybe your over-thinking it. I'm not sure anyone on this board would be offended by such behavior, and if they are, they probably shouldn't have access to the internet.

It's different with personal, face-to-face relationships. I agree with Absalom- Cynical and critical are very different things. While constructive criticism (in small doses) is usually a positive thing, no one likes to be beaten on relentlessly.
Perhaps there's some underlying issues in these relationships? It's unlikely that you'll find many answers on an anonymous forum.
 
I can feel your pain. I am an optimistic-pessimist or a pessimistic-optimist depending on the day. That means I hope everything will be fine, but I know most of it may not be. Works for me.
 
These days there is a lot to be cynical about. (No joke).

But there's a lot to be positive about. If not for the wonders of medicine and technology, I would probably be pushing up daisies right now. So I try to take every day as a clean slate, where I can be what I want to be. I hope you find a way to realize the endless possibilities in your life.

About commas:
I used to teach English, and I can tell you that commas are the most overused punctuation mark in writing. Really, the rules governing their use are pretty vague at best. Many people just sprinkle them around randomly. No need to worry about it. I'm just glad you're not one of those folks that ends every sentence with an exclamation point! :D
 
"Before you speak, ask yourself if what you are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid."

Bernard Meltzer

(Now, if I could just remember to do this myself, I'd be a better person and accumulate far fewer demerits on this board!)
 
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16thVACav said:
"Before you speak, ask yourself if what you are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid."

Bernard Meltzer

(Now, if I could just remember to do this myself, I'd be a better person and accumulate far fewer demerits on this board!)






Bernard Meltzer
Click to expand...


Ain't that the truth!
 
A good friend shared his philosophy with me:
People suck, and they drive badly too.

I don't agree completely, but he's not wrong..

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
 
Chubbo said:
I’ve spent the last 48hrs, in sleepless thought. There hasn’t been a friend, or family member contact me in that time.

The reason for my being shunned, has become regrettably apparent; It’s my, constant, irresistible, criticism, of everybody, and everything. This fault is totally unwanted, but truly exists.

In retrospect, I'm in awe, and envy, our many members that, are true optimists, and have, a bright cheerful outlook on life.

I truly praise, and compliment, those admirable folks. I’d give anything I own to be like them, and won't use my usual cynicism, to judge them wrong in any way. Please forgive my criticized, overuse, of the comma key.

This is just another of my sad attempts, to explain my confessed, faults, to get forgiveness, and understanding.
Click to expand...

My advice - quit watching the news! :rolleyes:
 
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Bajadoc said:
Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with your sage advice, but there's another bit of hateful, irreverent, popular advice, that I don't agree with, that's more often followed; 'Do unto others before they do it unto you'
 
Chubbo said:
I totally agree with your sage advice, but there's another bit of hateful, irreverent, popular advice, that I don't agree with, that's more often followed; 'Do unto others before they do it unto you'
Click to expand...

If that's what you're looking for, that's what you'll find.
 
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