8752. Like our
physical pain our psychological pain is not necessarily always bad or even
undesirable;
8753. In some
cases experiencing emotional or psychological pain can be healthy or necessary;
8754. Problems
never go away they just improve;
8755. The
solution to one problem is merely the creation of the next one;
8756. Don’t
hope for a life without problems; hope for a life full of good problems;
8757. Happiness
comes from solving problems;
8758. Happiness
is a constant work-in-progress because solving problems is a constant
work-in-progress. The solutions to
today’s problems will lay the foundation for tomorrow’s problems and so on;
8759. True
happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy
solving;
8760. Some
people deny that their problems exist in the first place. And because they deny reality they must
constantly delude or distract themselves from reality. This may make them feel good in the short
term, but it leads to a life of insecurity, neuroticism and emotional
repression;
8761. Some
choose to believe that there is nothing they can do to solve their problems
even when they in fact could. Victims
seek to blame others for their problems or blame outside circumstances. This may make them feel better in the short
term, but it leads to a life of anger, helplessness and despair;
8762. People
deny and blame others for their problems for the simple reason that it’s easy
and feels good while solving problems is hard and often feels bad;
8763. Almost
anything can become addictive depending on the motivation behind using it;
8764. Emotions
are simply biological signals designed to nudge you in the direction of
beneficial change;
8765. Negative
emotions are a call to action. When you feel them it’s because you’re
supposed to do something;
8766. Positive
emotions are rewards for taking the proper action;
8767. Apparently,
the Chinese symbol for crisis/danger and opportunity are the same;
8768. Crisis
can be seen as crisis . . . or it can be seen as (an) opportunity;
8769.
Substitutes for butter in baking: 1.
Applesauce: You can replace butter in baking recipes with unsweetened
applesauce by using half of the amount of applesauce as the amount of butter
called for in the recipe. This works well
in sugar cookies, cakes and breads like banana or zucchini bread; 2. Vegetable oil: You can substitute ¾ cup of
vegetable oil for every 1 cup of butter. This works well in all manner of baking
recipes; 3. Buttermilk: You can
substitute ½ cup of buttermilk for every 1 cup of butter. This works well for all recipes with the
exception of pie crust (i.e., it changes the consistency of the dough and makes
it crumbly instead of flaky. No
buttermilk on hand? Just add 1
tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar per cup of milk and let stand 5 minutes;
4. Avocado: You can substitute pureed
avocado in equal parts for the amount of butter called for; 5. Greek yogurt: For a higher protein
substitution, use half of the amount of Greek yogurt as the amount of butter. This works especially well in cakes because it
creates a velvety texture; 6. Pumpkin
puree: For every cup of butter called for in a recipe, use ¾ cup of pumpkin (or
butternut, Hubbard or other similar squash) puree. You can also substitute pumpkin puree in equal
amount to the quantity of oil in a baking recipe; 7. Coconut oil: If the recipe calls for a
substantial amount of butter, you might notice a flavor difference in the
finished product so it is not the best in savory breads, but works fine in cakes,
cookies and muffins; 8. Prune puree:
Similar to pumpkin puree, substitute ¾ cup of prune puree (you can use prune
baby food) for every cup of butter in a baked item. This works best for cakes and brownies, but it
will darken the color of the finished product adding a reddish-purple tone;
9. Olive oil: Use ¾ cup of olive oil for
every cup of butter called for. Note
that olive oil has a strong flavor and works best in savory items like herb
breads or biscuits and would likely hurt the flavor of sweeter items such as
cakes, cookies or pie crusts. It is a
tasty substitute for butter in crusts for meat or pot pies ; and 10. Applesauce & buttermilk: If you are
concerned about the integrity of the taste of the dish, use ¼ cup unsweetened
applesauce and ¼ cup buttermilk for every cup of butter in a recipe. It does not work well for pie crust; it
changes the texture too much;
8770. (Putting)
peanut butter in ramen (noodles) is pretty good. . . . Who knew?
It makes (kind of) a peanut sauce;
8771. Knowing
is not enough; we must apply. Being
willing is not enough; we must do;
8772. Negative
emotions are a call to action. When you
feel them, it’s because you’re supposed to do something;
8773. Positive
emotions are rewards for taking the proper action;
8774. Emotions
are part of the equation of our lives, but not the entire equation. Just because something feels good doesn’t
mean it is good. Just because something
feels bad doesn’t mean it is bad.
Emotions are merely signpost, suggestions that our neurobiology gives us
not commandments. Therefore, we
shouldn’t always trust our own emotions;
8775. Many
people are taught to repress their emotions for various personal, social or
cultural reasons particularly negative emotions. Sadly to deny one’s negative emotions is to
deny many of the feedback mechanisms that help a person solve problems;
8776.
Decision-making based on emotional intuition without the aid of reason
to keep it in line pretty much always sucks;
8777. A
fixation on happiness inevitably amounts to a never-ending pursuit of
“something else” . . . a new house, a new relationship, another child, another
pay raise. And despite all of our sweat
and strain, we end up feeling eerily similar to how we started: inadequate;
8778. The
“hedonic treadmill” is the idea that we’re always working hard to change our
life situation, but we actually never feel very different;
8779.
Everything comes with an inherent sacrifice. Whatever makes us feel good will also inevitably
make us feel bad. What we gain is also
what we lose. What creates our positive
experiences will define our negative experiences;
8780. We like
the idea that there’s some form of ultimate happiness that can be
attained. We like the idea that we can
alleviate all of our suffering permanently.
We like the idea that we can feel fulfilled and satisfied with our lives
forever, but we cannot;
8781. A
question that most people never consider is, “What pain do you want in your
life? What are you willing to struggle
for?” Because that seems to be a greater
determinant of how our lives turn out;
8782. Most
people want to get the corner office and make a boatload of money, but not many
people want to suffer through 60-hour workweeks, long commutes, obnoxious
paperwork and arbitrary corporate hierarchies to escape the confines of an
infinite cubicle hell. Most people want
to have great sex and an awesome relationship, but not everyone is willing to
go through the tough conversations, the awkward silences, the hurt feelings and
the emotional psychodrama to get there.
And so they settle;
8783. Happiness
requires struggle. It grows from
problems. Joy doesn’t sprout out of the
ground like daisies and rainbows. Real,
serious, lifelong fulfillment and meaning have to be earned through the
choosing and managing of our struggles;
8784. What
determines your success isn’t “What do you want to enjoy?” The relevant question is, “What pain do you
want to sustain?” The path to happiness
is a path of shit heaps and shame. You
have to choose something. You can’t have
a pain-free life. It can’t all be roses
and unicorns all of the time. Pleasure
is the easy question;
8785. Our
struggles determine our successes. Our
problems birth our happiness along with slightly better, slightly upgraded
problems;
8786. Elizabeth
likes Gillian Welch . . . and John Prine (i.e., singer-songwriters);
8787. The best
tasting Oreo I’ve ever had was the one I ate after coming down from LSD;
8788. Hot,
frozen pizza tastes really good after coming down from LSD;
8789. Elizabeth
likes “The xx” (i.e., English indie pop band);
8790. Things
which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least;
8791. Merely
feeling good about yourself doesn’t really mean anything unless you have a good
reason to feel good about yourself;
8792. Adversity
and failure are actually useful and even necessary for developing strong-minded
and successful adults;
8793. A true
and accurate measurement of one’s self-worth is how people feel about the
negative aspects of themselves;
8794. A person
who actually has a high self-worth is able to look at the negative parts of
her/his character frankly and then acts to improve upon them;
8795. Entitled
people because they are incapable of acknowledging their own problems openly
and honestly are incapable of improving their lives in any lasting or
meaningful way. They are left chasing
high after high and accumulate greater and greater levels of denial;
8796. Most
people don’t correctly identify as entitlement are those people who perpetually
feel as though they’re inferior and unworthy of the world. Construing everything in life so as to make
yourself out to be constantly victimized requires just as much selfishness as
the opposite. It takes just as much
energy and delusional self-aggrandizement to maintain the belief that one has
insurmountable problems as that one has no problems at all;
8797.
Realization that you and your problems are actually not privileged in
their severity or pain is the first and most important step toward solving
them;
8798. If you’re
exceptional at one thing, chances are you’re average or below average at most
other things;
8799. To become
truly great at something, you have to dedicate a lot of time and energy to
it. Because we all have limited time and
energy few of us ever become truly exceptional at more than one thing if
anything at all;
8800. We’re all
for the most part pretty average people, but it’s the extremes that get all of
the publicity;
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