New Agers have always told us that we create our own realities. Mind over matter. Ariel Gore More Quotes by Ariel Gore More Quotes From Ariel Gore The first person who ever told me that happiness was work was this manic-depressive artist I knew when I was in my 20s. I was like, 'What are you talking about? Happiness just happens. That's even the root of that word. How could it be work? Ariel Gore artist talking happiness When you study postpartum depression, there is a very clear understanding that in communities where you see more support, there is less depression. Ariel Gore support community understanding A lot of women make choices based on how they saw their mother's choices working out, how they saw the choices of the women elders in their lives working out. There's some rebellion in that, but there's also some deep reflection. Ariel Gore work-out reflection mother In our cultural history, all emotions have been more culturally acceptable to women. Ariel Gore acceptable has-beens emotion Looking for the perfect day is not going to make us happy, because that day isn't going to come. Ariel Gore perfect-days perfect A lot of positive psychology is stuck in being the psychology of privilege, and I reject that. Ariel Gore stuck psychology privilege I've never been socially outgoing, but I suspect I've gotten more and more ambivalent about making new friends. I'm irritated by how-do-you-do chit-chat, but that's how new relationships usually begin. Ariel Gore irritated new-friends new-relationship Before I published anything, I dreamed of publication, but I didn't actually write for it. I imagined that writing for an audience was something for fancier people. I aspired, but mostly I wrote for myself. I wrote because it made me happy. Ariel Gore made writing people My own habit had always been to write about the things that ticked me off in a given day. If I kept a journal at all, I kept it to vent. Ariel Gore given habit writing I think there are different kinds of happiness. We know when we're happy a lot of the time, but then there are those moments that have more of an afterglow, when the happiness has more depth. Ariel Gore depth happiness thinking In all of my looking at happiness, one thing I noticed right away is that the opposite of happiness isn't unhappiness or even depression, it's anxiety. It is something that can constantly block our happiness, or our chance to reach that sort of meditative state in our work or our home lives. Ariel Gore block home happiness Conventional wisdom tells us we'll only be happier after a divorce if the marriage itself was a war zone. Ariel Gore conventional-wisdom divorce war Your heart is the size of your fist; keep loving, keep fighting. Ariel Gore fighting fists heart Some caregivers want to reciprocate the care they themselves received as children. Ariel Gore care want children The last introvert in a world of extroverts. Silence: my response to both emptiness and saturation. But silence frightens people. I had to learn how to talk. Out of politeness. Ariel Gore silence people world It is a great paradox and a great injustice that writers write because we fear death and want to leave something indestructible in our wake and, at the same time, are drawn to all the things that kill: whiskey and cigarettes, unprotected sex, and deep-fried burritos. Ariel Gore burritos writing sex With each beat, the heart pumps nearly three ounces of blood into the arteries--seventy-five to ninety gallons an hour when the body is at rest. Ariel Gore three heart blood Maybe it goes without saying that if you want to become a famous writer before you’re dead, you’ll have to write something. But the folks in my classes with the biggest ideas and the best publicity shots ready to grace the back covers of their best-selling novels are also usually the ones who aren’t holding any paper. Ariel Gore writing class ideas Settling other people's land is an American tradition. Ariel Gore tradition land people Nourish the world with your words, yo. Ariel Gore world
