Put the oxygen mask over your own face first

[foxgrrl]

So lately I've been really depressed, not at this moment as I type, but really, really, I can't go on living like this kinda pain, immobilizing me. It seems to be recurring about every sixty hours, but I can deal with it. What I really, really, hate about it, is that I can't help the people around me deal with their depression — which always seems to happen at the same time as mine.

When I read LJ, I see everyone else posting about the same experiences that I am having, at the same times at which I am having them. When I feel good, everyone else feels good; When I feel bad, everyone else feels bad. This gives the illusion of there being some kind of cause and effect relationship between myself, and everyone I know. That I am somehow responsible for the mood of the whole world.

Then I start to wonder, if I really am the only being in creation, and everyone else is just a reflection of my mind - reflected in a multi-faceted inverted disco mirror ball. Then I start to wonder if I really exist at all, and that my being is the result of the collective thoughts and moods of everyone on Earth.

Are you a figment of my imagination, or am I a figment of yours?

---

Update: Let's make a deal; I'll try to stay happy and energetic, if everyone else tries to stay happy too&hellip Please… for the love of god, be happy!

Comments

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

I think therefore you are.

[foxgrrl]

Yay! You still read my journal. Every time I worry that I might have the shaman sickness, I think of you. (Don't have time to talk about it now… unfortunately.)

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

Or maybe it's sunspot activity.

[proudlyfallen.livejournal.com]

... It's 7:30 in the morning, and still dark outside here in New England. Thank you; now I'm probably not going back to bed. >.<

(Nightmares about Pyramidhead were bad enough. Existential nightmares brought on by reading LJ... well, THAT I don't want to even get into!)

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

I am not a figment of your imagination, because I am older than you. You are not a figment of my imagination, because my imagination could never in a million years have come up with anything as wonderful and unique as you.

[panorphelia.livejournal.com]

Wow - Solipsism. It's 5am and my brain hurts. I think it may be down to my conjuring up your presence .. :)

[dymaxion.livejournal.com]

Clearly, we're figures of each other's imagination, called into existence by some twisted deity of recursion. "God wrote in Lisp" isn't just a song, you know...

[stillvisions.livejournal.com]

Are you a figment of my imagination, or am I a figment of yours?

The way you say it, you'd think these are mutually exclusive... [grin]

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Shields have their uses.

As for the figment question, I'm honestly not sure. At 3 AM, back when covering posts was more common for me, I often felt like I was the only one in the world as I stared out over the moonlit vista of building roofs.

Nowadays I look at a line of cars waiting to get on the freeway and feel exactly the same way. Canned people, under stress.

You ate some of my turkey. Therefore you exist :)

[veleda.livejournal.com]

We are all one entity split apart into a billion rays of light dancing and interacting with each oter,reflecting and exploring consciousness.

[lupinekassidy.livejournal.com]

Think less of the cause and effect of others and you, but more that the shared experiences are the effect of the same cause, possibly undetermined. Just because we can't see the point of origin doesn't mean it doesn't exist. ;)
Besides, I already know that I exist. It's everyone else whom I'm perhaps a touch iffy about, but I like to assume that others exist as well outside of my own frame of reference. It makes for more interesting life than to have the ego that everything that happens is somehow my fault. ;)
Anyways. Been thinking about you! Keep in touch. :)

60 hours

[trema-slo.livejournal.com]

foxgrrl,
I think that we, all, are either loving, or seeking love. It happens all the time. We notice more the larger aspects of how our minds affect and are affected.
Seriously, perhaps this has to do with solar weather and the effects of it's rays. Like astrology but solar.
I'm looking forward to seeing you. Also, huge boosts and congratulations on your forthcoming long distance excursion. You excel. Be well, safe, and stay strong.
T

[redshrike.livejournal.com]

it's more likely that i'm a figment of your imagination, in which case, thank you. i like being this that i am.

also: please keep in mind that when we are depressed, we tend to see the dark, the sad, the broken far mre than we see any of the happiness around us. and we are more likely to think of happiness as fleeting and/or false, when we're low.

[vintage-fish.livejournal.com]

I've only met you, briefly, twice.

But I'm not convinced that I'm not a figment of my own imagination, even, so it's probably best that I don't consider which imaginations outside of my own I might also be a figment of, or whose figments I've got in my own, or....

Uhh....

Anyhow, seems to me I've had similar correlations - I think it's a human tendency to notice bad things when we feel bad, and notice good things we feel good. Seems a simpler explanation, but I do often wonder at deeper connections amongst people.

[bluegodjanus.livejournal.com]

We create and reflect each other. I'm the universe, you're the universe. None of us are real, but all of us are. We're seperate, but not. Really, I think it's more accurate to say you're a figment of your own imagination.

[littlelordchaos.livejournal.com]

"Are you a figment of my imagination, or am I a figment of yours?"


If you are a figment of my Imagination then I am way cooler than I thought!
If I am a figment of yours then you just migh be a little crazy. In the good way of course.


love ya! miss ya! Hugggs ya!

[(Anonymous)]

[(Anonymous)]

[http://users.livejournal.com/_harbinger_/]

Event resonance, whether over LJ or in the 'real' world is, to my perception at least, a growing trend. And while it may be true that people tend to notice the things around them that confirm existing beliefs, belief has a reproducible, measurable effect on outcome.

One strategy I've had some success with in fighting bouts of depression is to simply force myself to smile for a minute or two. I believe either the sense association triggers a change in brain chemistry or using facial muscles to smile releases endorphins. Anyway, it seems to work pretty well for short term attacks of depression.

Now if only I had an easy answer for the low level funk I've been in and out of lately. But that I know the cause of and how to stop it. Its just a matter of doing it. Feh.

Awesome seeing you again at the party BTW.

[oygevalte.livejournal.com]

I'm trying, my friend. I'm trying.

And I'm pretty sure that I exist. Just in case you were keeping track...

[atavist.livejournal.com]

I prefer to think of it as being a part of a hive mind of sorts.

Not everyone is part of the same one.

Deal

[maythen-apple.livejournal.com]

Sure, I'll throw in. I will try to feel happy. But both are true.