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My method of determining if a community is "healthy" (online or otherwise) is to evaluate it after I've (temporarily) left (e.g. for the day). Do I feel angry,
by rossdavidh 7y ago
My method of determining if a community is "healthy" (online or otherwise) is to evaluate it after I've (temporarily) left (e.g. for the day). Do I feel angry, upset, sad? Do I feel wiser? If somebody says something I disagree with, but afterwards I find that it has brought up lots of interesting insights in my own mind, then regardless of whether I agreed with them or not, I consider it healthy.
Conversely, even if I agree a lot with what is said, if afterwards I'm angry, sad, etc. then it wasn't healthy. When younger, I used to think that more anger at what was wrong in the world, would help to fix it. Experience has taught me that actions taken out of anger, even if well-intentioned, are almost always unskillful. I want more insight, more understanding, and HN aids me in getting that far more often than, say, Facebook, which I now use only on Sundays, and not every Sunday, as a way of making sure I don't let its toxic stew of opinions infect my emotions.
I cannot honestly remember how I discovered HN, but I return because, even when I disagree with most of what is said on a topic, it is typically the case that I find my own thinking to be more nuanced or more interesting afterwards.
- M5x7wI3CmbEem10 7y agois anger useless?
- mixmastamyk 7y agoNo, but constant anger is unhealthy.
- epakai 7y agoNot at all. Anger is a superb motivator, but difficult to manage. It's true many situations aren't well served by the brash actions we might take when angry, but with practice you can separate your action from the emotion. The anger becomes a trigger for thinking about and implementing solutions to all kinds of issues.
- threatofrain 7y agoEmotions may or may not lead to something After. In yourself and in others, you might then make a judgment call on whether what came after was a part of your picture of health. Not everyone has the same relationship with their emotions, and not everyone has the same after.
- house9-2 7y ago> is anger useless? Far from it. The way it has been explained to me the core emotions are: Anger, Fear, Joy and Sorrow You also have feelings: depressed, happy, excited, anxious, etc… The core emotions are just tools that you have in your toolbox and they show up when needed and if we were all functioning at a high level they would show up when needed and we would use them appropriately. However, most of us are not functioning at a high level due to many factors; often this can be generational we are learning ‘bad emotional hygiene’ from our parents at a young age and these continually get passed to the next generation. Examples of your emotions working correctly: - Your long time pet has passed away: Sorrow - There is a pack of Wolves outside: Fear My understanding is that depression is caused by the suppression of Anger and Sorrow. If you are able to work through the emotions you are suppressing then depression is going to go away. This isn’t a one time thing though, you will experience Anger and Sorrow all through your life time, the trick is knowing how to actually feel these emotions so you don’t suppress them leading you back into depression. Similarly, anxiety is usually caused by the suppression of Fear. Disclaimer: I am not a mental health professional
- satvikpendem 7y agoIf it drives action, no. However, being angry all the time isn't very productive. It's the same principle as adrenalin.
- rossdavidh 7y agoNot entirely, but that doesn't mean it's as useful as it once was: https://www.rosshartshorn.net/stuffrossthinksabout/what_anger_is_good_for/ https://www.rosshartshorn.net/stuffrossthinksabout/what_ange...