Tag: optimism

Yes, You Can Die From a ‘Broken Heart,’ and Optimism Makes You Live Longer

Via Mercola

Story at-a-glance

  • Broken heart syndrome (stress cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy) is a real medical condition, triggered by acute, major stress or shock, such as the death of a loved one
  • Studies have shown that the loss of a loved one raises your own risk of sudden death, known as the “bereavement effect.” There’s even evidence showing that spousal illness increases the partner’s mortality risk
  • Having a positive outlook on life has been shown to be the most influential factor in longevity studies

December 27, 2016, actress Carrie Fisher, aged 60, died from a heart attack. The very next day, her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds died from a stroke. In the wake of the loss of these two popular Hollywood icons, many have asked whether you can actually die from a broken heart.1,2,3

The short answer to that question is yes. Broken heart syndrome (formally known as stress cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy) is a real medical condition, triggered by acute, major stress or shock — such as the death of a loved one.

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Light Up A Candle Rather Than Curse the Darkness

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

Having an interest in a small paratransit company, I wanted to help out the employees there this summer.  Pre-covid there were 25 drivers and, post-covid, they are down to less than 15 people – some of whom have been working 60+ hours a week, at $12 an hour, helping to transport the elderly, the sick, and the handicapped, to get from here to there.

Last week, I was asked to help move a quadriplegic (via stretcher) from the hospital to a long-term care facility.  Now, this one was one angry young guy who kept swearing at the nurses who were trying to help him. He yelled at a lady on the elevator and he was quite an assh*le to me in the transport vehicle as well. But, after some time, he realized I wasn’t his enemy.  Turns out he was shot by his girlfriend last fall and he’s been paralyzed since. He’s not from this area and has no family.  He’s a guy with zero self-actualization, no hope, and all he wants now is a cigarette and to die.

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It Is What It Is

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

I was in a gathering of folks when a dispute escalated between a husband and wife over what has now become the title of this article.  During our discussion someone recited those words and the wife divulged how much she hated that statement.  After quietly listening to the exchange for a few moments, the husband spoke up and said:  “Well that must be more proof of how opposites attract, because I LOVE that phrase and I say it all the time!”

Which may have been part of the reason why the wife disliked the expression, but I wasn’t about to go there.

Instead, I mentioned how that particular shibboleth of sorts was surely defined in the minds of the beholders.  On the one hand, its utterance could be an excuse – even a fatalistic expression derived from laziness or defeatism.  Or, like the purveyor of produce in Ayn Rand’s epic tome, “Atlas Shrugged” – when Dagny Taggart asked the grocery vendor why she didn’t move her product from out of the sun and into the shade and her reply was:  “Because it’s always been that way”.

Oh, the world sucks?  Of course it does.  Why bother.

It is what is.

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Pessimism, Fatalism, Realism, Optimism, Hope

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

When I first had the idea to write this piece, it was going to justify my own overwhelming sense of foreboding regarding future events that, to me, seem as inevitable as gravity drawing water down a drain. I wanted to defend my perspectives against those who still have hope. First, I would parse the meanings of pessimism, fatalism, and realism, and then use persuasive language to show how I was merely being honestly realistic because math.

I was going to entitle the essay “Embracing Realism with an Attitude of Pessimism and a Foreboding Sense of Fatalism” and demonstrate how I was not a pessimist or a fatalist per se, but rather a realist.  I would then use that construct to demolish any remaining hope still aflame within the hearts of the readers; as a favor to them.

In fact, I even conducted an informal poll to sample the perspectives of awakened and like-minded online travelers.  Like the flicker of lanterns in a dark wood, the glint of moonlight from metal on a mountain trail, or a midnight campfire tossing sparks into heaven – I was surprised to see that hope still shined for 6 out of 10 red-pilled wanderers traveling through the entropic cosmos, beyond the great digital divide.

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