It seems entirely bizarre to me that Psychology has been something of a neglected ’science.’ When we consider that Psychology is the study of the mind, would it not have made sense, given the fact that everything we observe and perceive is from within the confining space of our mind, that we should have studied that the most, first, from the very start of history? It does make some sense, of course, that philosophy has been active for several hundred years, and the thing that best separates philosophy from psychology is that, while psychology is stemming from philosophy itself, psychology is more geared toward being for medical purposes, for therapy purposes, where as philosophy is subject to everyone individual’s beliefs and their own whimsy choices.

But psychology is critically important. And I think philosophy is also critically important, and I think one thing that the entire field of psychology could use is more of a philosophical influence, rather than so much of a psychiatric or neurological influence. All the sciences need to not be taken with such a death seriousness as to avoid all enjoyment out of the subject. This is not to say, which some might say it is to say, that we should over blow the subject into something sensational, beyond points of realism. But what is realism? Reality, as many interpret it, is often subject to a pessimistic point of view that wonderful, amazing things cannot happen in reality – that physics and the scientific laws which govern motion cannot be bent or tested. History has shown the opposite of many of these everyday truths, of course, and time and time again the laws of ’science’ have been broken.

I remember one of the first times I ever went to Disneyland as a child. I had a fascination with not the characters that Disney has created to entertain kiddos, but a much greater fascination with the way the different rides worked. I can recall comparing this theme park to other ones that had nothing but simple roller coasters without theming or animatronics, any of the fancy stuff that really made those rides fun. The difference between Disneyland and the other not-so-cool theme parks out there is Disney’s focus on immersing the customer who rides the ride with a whole world which is created in front of them. They take all the creativity of their films and put it into their rides, where as you move through many of their attractions, you witness different elements that they’re known for, you get to see a story told to you, even as you’re experiencing the g-forces of a roller coaster. I think that this is the way we should be treating science. Forget the “work hard programming” that is pounded into everyone’s heads all day long.

The Work Hard Programming is a term I formed a long time ago, that thanks to my running this website now, can once again resurface. The work hard programming is a concept that refers to how the mass culture as a whole can be under the perception that in order to succeed with great, accomplished results you must “work hard,” and expend a great deal of effort, often expending a great deal of energy to the point of exhaustion and immense exertion. People call work because it’s work, and they cannot often call it play because it just isn’t any fun, all too often. Cognitive psychologists of today would continue to argue that the American culture in which we live is able to change, if only people would alter the way they perceive their reality. Of course, there have been some scary ideas paired with this idea, to the point of socialism, communism, brainwashing, and that is not what I am suggesting at all. What I am talking about here is knowing when we should be grateful for what we have, knowing when to enjoy what it is we’re doing.

There are many things that are going to be universally enjoyed by people everywhere. One of those things, enjoyed by people often universally, is simply other people. Most of us give up trying to make the best of what we are given. If you are absolutely going to be stuck at a job(and you had better not tell me that’s the way it will always be), then try to get along with your coworkers the best you can during the time you’re there. Try to make the best of everything you’ve got everywhere. Do not settle for less.

If you have “bad days,” remember that there is no reason to feel down about those bad days, because hey – do you want every single day to be perfect? Is it that wrong that you should be given a bad day every once and a while? If you’re having bad days every day, shift out of that, get moving onto something else, do whatever it takes to break free of where you are. But a lot of people these days just seem to be complaining when they need not complain, or feeling agitated when they need not feel agitated. Some things that I think have contributed to people’s overall dropped mood in the past number of years are:

• People are getting less sleep, on average, than they used to. 8 hours is considered the norm, where I’ve heard that 10 hours used to be considered more optimal.
• The population continues to grow. As civilization develops better medical health technologies, and the large cities and urban areas become more concentrated, mental illness statistically and proportionately goes up.
• Media is centered around two things the most heavily – negativity and sex. Over 90% of the stories you hear on the news are potentially negative, discussing the deaths of someone or some people, the injuries of others, murder, rape, crime rate, bad weather conditions and so on. There are many scientific breakthroughs, business accomplishments that are happening near you locally, successful people, and more that you never hear about. Tons of families everywhere watch the news daily and are conditioned to think that things could be getting progressively worse. The pairing with sex makes a bad combo, and you have thus seen the rise in many negative attitudes towards sex, and distorted perceptions of nudity.
• The economy is centered around busy people. Parents are not able to be there for their children to raise and guide them as well as they were able to 50 years ago, due to rising pressures and increased work hours; a changing economy.
• As a result of the above factors, attitudes have changed, which in turn produce more shifting perspectives. Negative creates negative, and so it does tend to get progressively worse until some sort of dramatic influence creates a turning point where it all shifts back the other direction. It has been said by many that perhaps cultural attitudes here in America have cycles, changing every couple decades.

And these things, obviously, are not only exclusive to the United States necessarily. Much of what I have described seems to be taking place on a global scale. With all of these different factors going on, plus others I haven’t even mentioned, is it any wonder why people seem to be having such a bleak outlook? Maybe I should start up my own news agency that goes after all of the positive news stories. Can we honestly say that the national and global outlook would be the same if the stories coming out of every media outlet were the opposite in tone of those coming out now? Here’s some positive factors that are still happening and have been happening for years, through thick and thin, things that you do not often hear about from the news, because these are not proper “newsworthy” items.

• Couples are falling in love everyday, people everywhere are improving their relationships and starting new ones all over the place. With all the death that exists, life is more abundant than ever(and possibly too much!)
• Children are coming out of abusive homes and finding better families every single week.
• Millions of people are learning how to better expand their own personal potential, and are accomplishing great things to help the world.
• Conditions of poverty and war are improving in places of the world, thanks to the efforts of various different individuals, and powerful charities that act through the driving force of both motivation and money from the general public.
• Artists all over the world, even in their starved state, are producing beautiful masterpieces that are putting people to tears and changing people’s lives, every single day this happens.

And if I wanted, I could carry on that list a lot longer. In fact, I noticed that writing those items just now were a lot easier than writing the negative ones. So perhaps things are looking up a lot more than we always thought. Given all of the positive things that can happen, and given all of the positive things that are happening, what is to say that we cannot, with a simple decisive sweep, recreate our lives to be more fulfilled, to deliver others from bad times, to help others in need, for US to be the ones to step up and make a difference(not waiting for someone else to do it), and so much more? Why not us? Why should anything hold you or me back at all?