Status Updates From Permission to Feel

There’s an idea, especially in kids, that happiness is the only acceptable feeling in public, and if we’re not happy at all times, we’ve failed.

We have a natural bias in favor of displaying positive emotions, especially in the US, which translates into a pressure on all of us to seem happy, no matter what. Which often backfires and makes us LESS happy.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (named for a pair of linguists) maintains that the language we speak determines our worldview and even how our minds work. This hearkens back to a 19th century idea that language expresses the spirit of a culture.

“emotional sickness is avoiding reality at any cost. emotional health is facing reality at any cost.”