I know my stuff is just petty compared to yours.

OK... this is an important concept that I adhere to...

I think of it in mathematical terms... when considering the "importance" of happy or sad events, you have to multiply them by a weighing factor to consider how close they are to you. Hearing about the divorce of a coworker, no matter how much you might empathize, will never have as much "impact" in your life as hearing about the divorce of someone in your family.

And carrying that to oneself, NOTHING has greater impact than what is occuring with oneself. I like to describe sympathy as understanding the pain someone else is feeling, empathy as feeling the pain someone else is feeling, but there should be a third word that tops them all which describes things that are actually happening to you.

Things around you may change your world, but things that happen to you have the potential to put you into a different world.

A lot of people find comfort in realizing that other people have worse problems than theirs, and that can be a good thing, but I believe with all of my heart that that should never be used in a negative sense, to feel one is unworthy of support, venting, etc. What is happening TO YOU is the most important thing in the world TO YOU and there is no shame in realizing that.

Here at Psych Central, we can understand the feelings the we have as individuals and how those feelings effect our lives. So everyone is at an "equal level" as our pain is real and valid and isn't judged or weighed by external circumstances.

I had a nice Margarita tonight to help me sleep... I hope this isn't effecting my post or my typing too much... tomorrow I may want to edit the heck out of this post <g>

{{{{Bethy}}}}