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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!qantel!lll-crg!seismo!harvard!talcott!cfa!mink
From: mink@cfa.UUCP (Doug Mink)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: doing something about your feelings
Message-ID: <154@cfa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 2-Dec-85 15:44:31 EST
Article-I.D.: cfa.154
Posted: Mon Dec  2 15:44:31 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Dec-85 04:46:48 EST
References: <1933@zehntel.UUCP> <3850033@csd2.UUCP> <218@unirot.UUCP> <279@l5.uucp> <652@unc.unc.UUCP> <296@l5.uucp>
Organization: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Lines: 25


 In article <652@unc.unc.UUCP> goodrum@unc.UUCP (Cloyd Goodrum) writes:

> It's been my experience that you can't do a lot about your emotions by
> trying to do something about them.  It's a lot like trying not to think
> about elephants. If someone tells you not to think about elephants, all
> you're going to be thinking about is elephants and how you're not supposed
> to think about them.
>	So what do you do?? I've never found a better solution than just
> waiting... Instead of thinking about whatever's bothering you, think
> about anything else you find interesting. You can't think about two things
> at once.

I've found that it takes more than thinking to get me past a depression.
Sometimes, working on a project alone will distract me enough, but the
best thing I can do is to talk to friends who care how I feel.  They don't
always have anything reassuring to say, but just knowing that they're there
is enough to keep me from hitting bottom. 
  
-- 
Doug Mink, aging hippy astronomer
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Cambridge, Mass.

"I get by with a little help from my friends."