As Good As It Gets

[The People]

Have people seen that movie with Jack Nicholson? He bombed into his shrink's office and gets punted out. On the way out he stopped and looked at everyone and said "Have you ever stopped and wondered if maybe this is as good as it gets?" That is the mentality we have decided to take. In the movie Jack becomes a better person because of someone special but for us that doesn't happen. So we figure if we take that attitude we won't get so upset when life throws stink bombs at us.

[nats]

guess life is life really. some have better and some worse, more or less, but life has never been about fair or unfair. that's just how we perceive it. so we think he's right - as good as it gets is as good as we interpret it to be. wish we knew how to say it in a happier way

[tweeter]

(01-16-2014, 02:16 AM)The People Wrote: Have people seen that movie with Jack Nicholson? He bombed into his shrink's office and gets punted out. On the way out he stopped and looked at everyone and said "Have you ever stopped and wondered if maybe this is as good as it gets?" That is the mentality we have decided to take. In the movie Jack becomes a better person because of someone special but for us that doesn't happen. So we figure if we take that attitude we won't get so upset when life throws stink bombs at us.

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Gone beyond wondering in terms of the medical community, because I have no choice. I am guarded that way against devoting continued efforts in that direction, what they bring, and it's getting worse. I will do my personal work for its own sake. There are things that I've given up on. Sorry, I derive no comfort from the title of this good movie.

I will admit that if it hadn't been for the man I met briefly almost exactly three years ago, further self development to the current degree would not have occurred. He got to me, and I think I reached him too. But, something terrible happened. I fell apart due to someone's self-serving cruelty for which he will not take responsibility. Had there not been interference, things would have been different, though not predictably so.

During the last week or so, I observed and was able to figure out a behavioral reflex rootlette that had stayed, for the most part, below radar, and how my reactions to the events on the train, in my life before and since, reflect a non-verbal p**n that I was finally able to feel and visualize, thanks to my personal work, to the mentioned man I met, and two special kids in the building where I live now, which is where I spent most of my childhood. That was last weekend.

Over a number of years, the world has become more of a mess, in a state of constant crisis (natural and otherwise). That enhanced by drama and opportunism, in a framework of denial, pessimism, true optimism, and politically encouraged fantasy optimism. For the aging ill, it is a rude awakening to a cowardly new world, not a brave new world.
To quote from the movie: "Some of us have great stories, pretty stories that take place at lakes with boats and friends and noodle salad. Just no one in this car."

There's generally more than one special person, in more than one way, I think, in life. I also think that the need involved is mutual, though not necessarily equal. J.N. is able to offer his own goodness in response to a woman who desperately needed what he had to give. It's literally an emotional chemistry, which can be very fragile at first, and often needs situational help, or at least neutrality.
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