A sad person who is so involved with his sadness that he mistakes it for reality will have a hard time seeing himself as anything but sad. For him, the sadness is not a feeling that he experiences - it is him.
Interpretation
Sadness can become an identity for those who are deeply entrenched in it, making it difficult to see oneself beyond that feeling.
This quote by Mary Gaitskill delves into the nature of sadness as an emotion that can consume an individual so entirely that it transforms into a core part of their identity. When a person is overwhelmed by their sadness, it can cloud their perception of reality, leading them to believe they are defined by this feeling rather than merely experiencing it. This highlights the importance of recognizing emotions as transient, rather than static states of being.
In practice
A therapist might use this quote to help a client understand the distinction between sadness as a feeling and sadness as an identity.
What is faithfulness, anyway? Can you be unfaithful to your own feelings and faithful to someone else? Is it faithful to lie in bed night after night with someone you love but no longer desire while ardently dreaming of someone else?
Sometimes I write from the point of view of characters whom I would dislike as people, not as a perverse exercise, but because this cracks the story open and makes me see it in a way I would not see it naturally.
What are you thinking?” She asks. -That you are beautiful. That not everyone could see it. I almost became the kind of person who could not.
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.
When we put the pen to paper, we articulate things in our life that we may have felt vague about. Before you write about something, somebody says, 'How do you feel?' and you say, 'Oh, I feel okay.' Then you write about it, and you discover you don't feel okay.
Take one, and you cannot take the other. But neither path is safe. Which way would you walk — the way of hard truths or the way of fine lies?
I don't dare start thinking in the morning. I don't dare start thinking in the morning. If I thought thoughts in bed, Them thoughts would bust my head-- So I don't dare start thinking in the morning.
Money without brains is always dangerous.
Advice is unfriendly to learning, especially when it is sought. Most of the time when people seek advice, they just want to be heard. Advice at best stops the conversation, definitely inhibits learning, and at worst claims dominance.
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