Lessons from Cougar Town

I recently saw this hilarious episode of Cougar Town where Jennifer Anniston is Courtney Cox’s shrink. Cox is delighted as to who her new shrink really gets her” and seems to have been there done that. Turns out, that Anniston was a loony who had assumed that Cox’s relationship with her son was easily equated with her own relationship with her dog – and on finding this out, Cox of course blows up and the shrink is out of her life.

Storyline aside, that got me thinking. We all crave empathy – to have someone who gets us, und3erstands what we have been through and therefore does not judge our emotions, does not ridicule their depth and makes us feel less crazy in a mad mad world. And usually, if get the understanding, and don’t feel crazy, we assume the situation would have been the same. End of the day, we all just crave acceptance and acknowledgement that what we feel is OK.  

So often I’m told learn to live for yourself, but “myself” is me plus the world. There is no me in isolation. The very notion of a person, without attachments, relationships, expectations, desires, and opinions – is not even human. To have a life where you do not care for any of those expectations and opinions that come with those relationships is just sad.

And no one wants sadness. So we choose acceptance as a goal. From spouses, friends, family, colleagues, bosses – anyone or maybe even all of the above! And if we get a ray of empathy through the process, it’s like balm on a wound. My only question is – why don’t more of us just carry balm and pass it along instead of waiting for someone to hand it to us.

Hum of the day:
Life is what and who you fill your days with. Consider it a blessing or a curse – the choice is yours. Just like loneliness.  Rights, privileges, obligations and responsibility – you cant choose one half without the other.

Looking for the shades of life

It’s not about you versus me
It’s not even just about us
It’s not about us versus them
It’s just about having some trust

See the world from a happy place

Stand for the truth
Stand for your view
Learn to stand at your own pace

Truth and lies

Good and bad
Happy and sad
White and black

I’m looking for that shade of grey

That blends between two worlds
I’m trying to show you colours can mix
I’m trying to help us paint our world

It’s easy – then again I guess it could be difficult. It’s all about how you want to view things. That’s a cliché I know and I usually don’t like to get banal enough to use clichés but sometimes, a cliché is all you have.

We all seem to have our world defined, how we like it, how it should be and how it really is. All the lines are drawn. But somehow, when you step back you realise, there are too many lines, and in isolation, they may make sense, but as a whole, it’s a maze of inter twined threads.

Hum of the day:

How often does one think of life as a journey to fight the world, to win, to get ahead – the list is long. I may be very simplistic, but to me, life is not a war or battle ground. It’s just life. I want to live it, not fight it. I want to live like I learnt to in kindergarten on simple rules. The world is a good place. People are good. We all play together. We have our friends but that does not make anyone an enemy. We don’t judge, we don’t hold grudges. We live by the heart and risk everything. But we live.