The Brain Dump

I just bought three bags of candy (and only the candy that I like) and celebrated Halloween. Because I can, 'cause I'm an adult, dammit. And . . . yes, an adult would do this.

Suck it, tradition.

I dunno . . . haven't posted in a while--that's all I got for now.

Hey there, kids. I've been pretty busy since class started up on the 3rd of January. I've been trying to write and find a job and read for class and analyze for class and then write for class. Classy?

In other news, I've been thinking a lot about comforting people. What do you say to someone who has a negative emotional reaction to something? They turn to you for comfort/advice. Do you tell them what they want to hear? They are certainly in a vulnerable place but, more often than not, what they want to hear is simply an affirmation of their already negative emotional state.

So the question becomes do you support your friend in the downward spiral that is anger or sadness, or do you try to help them solve the real problem? Which is 'advice'? If you try to help them, you run the serious risk of alienating yourself from them as they interpret your unwillingness to agree with their anger as a form of rejection. This will increase their angry. It might even make you angry, 'cause you're just trying to help. That doesn't help anyone. So then does that change the nature of the advice you tried to give? Was it ever really advice? It still doesn't solve your friend's problem.

I don't know. No answers. Only questions.