Carnival of the Snoggers: #1

Okay, this marks the inagural edition of Carnval of the Snoggers, a Blog Carnival held among members of the illustrious SNOG! message board. If you're not familiar with the way a Blog Carnival works, it's essentially a group of bloggers who come together to post on their blog about a common topic, or write posts to their blog along a common theme. One blogger, appointed the host, acts as a hub hosting links to all of the sites in a magazine-like format, with some optional wry commentary on the various posts tossed in for good measure. A great example is Carnival of the Godless.

Okay, so the call for submissions was er...found somewhat wanting. I've got three submissions online, and I decided to go ahead and publish with what I've got, mainly because I said I'd be publishing tonight. The "grace period" will be until tomorrow noon, EST. After that, that's all folks!

This week's topic is "Thinking Positively". How did our first round of submissions go? Let's see...

Live and On The Air...

As Katherine can attest, I have no love lost for Xanga users, but our first two submissions gave it their best. And besides, Xanga users can't be all bad, right?

• x_Perfectly_x3_Flawed_x says that we really need to stop giving a damn about acting and thinking positively...and just...er...think positively...

So you may ask yourself "Gawsh, how in the world can I get back to the positive self that I used to be?" My solution is this: Don't focus on trying to thinking postively, in fact, don't even focus on not thinking negatively...don't focus at all. Take the time to be by yourself and simply *inhale* relaaaax *exhale*. Sounds simple, right? Eh, it usually is.

Sometimes the most complex of problems can be solved with the most simplest of solutions. I mean, we usually drown ourselves in a well of constant self-analysis. Well, I do at least. How often does it occur to us to simply just, well, relax and take a deep breath? Not often enough, I imagine.

• Citarra has a somewhat different outlook on things...

People can just try to think positively about some of the things that they used to be so negative about. You never know what you can find out about a person if you change the way that you are thinking.

Even if you think that someone has something bad about them such as being childish, try to think that maybe thats a good thing, that you can only be a kid for so long and they are trying to grasp it and hold onto it for as long as they can. Yes, it can get annoying, but, they will most likley get over it if you give them the chance.
For some people it may be hard, but, just try. :)

I like Citarra's general message, but I really think she should have elaborated more on that. I like her "Can-Do" attitude, but I wonder if she understands how difficult it can really be for people to "Just Do It". Sometimes you meet people who drive you absolutely nuts and telling people to try to see the good in that person would probably get you reactions ranging from indignation to outright incredulity. How do you fight human nature? I'm curious to know what she has to say to that.

• Stephanie, meanwhile shows that something good can come out of being in a depressed state:

So I was frustrated, most especially with me and most especially with the hard time I was going through and the fact that no one was really paying attention. I wrote that entry to release some anger. It really helped.

But one side-effect to writing that was surprising. It seemed that writing that entry, that way with all of the emphasis that I think looks so pretty, helped cement everything in my head. Everything. Before I would tell myself, “Oh, you should think positively every day!” every one or two weeks, whenever a weblog or person or something reminded me of it. Now, I get out of my car in the mornings and the first thing I do once I’ve gotten all of my junk out of the trunk is remember to smile. I smile at my friends when I first see them. I smile at random people at school. I try not to look quite as harried in between classes, and I remind myself to really look at people.

That reminds me a lot of the general sentiment I felt when I wrote my own submission. You feel a certain sense of anger, and you turn that into a way in which you can in some small way make your life better. Even if it was just through writing. Glad to know I'm not alone.

In a way it does seem plastic, but I do sense a genuine sincerity behind it. If you're not sincere about something like that, the veneer quickly fades away, but if you in some way believe in it, it sticks. She doesn't mention how long she's tried her new habit, but it's working. That's proof enough, right?

• And of course, last but not least is my own submission, easily accessed below.

Hopefully the others will be finished soon, so I won't have to do an excessive amount of edits.

Until next time...