This is about mental health.

[princealbertofb]

Apparently we take plenty of care of our bodies and of our teeth and of our hair, but how do we treat our minds? This TED talk is about our failure to address depression and mental health and what we might / could do about it.
The programme lasts 48 minutes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08mk2mp

[NativeSon]

Apparently you don't like the free-form aspect of what this forum should be, so you take it upon yourself to try and guide it into your idea of nudeness.

That's not normal, girlfriend.

You're a creep.

[NativeSon]

It's so weird that you take it upon yourself to expose Gayspeak to semi-nude--yet-tasteful, arty photos?

Everyday.

Several times a day.

Why do you find this so fulfilling, Princealbertofb?

[NativeSon]

What an asshole.

[TwisttheLeaf]

*Just kind of stares at whatever the hell is going on in this thread and shakes his head.*

Thank you for the share, [MENTION=1766]princealbertofb[/MENTION] The vid had a lot of good information, a lot of quality validation for those in various stages of dealing with their depression, and offered some great reading options, as well as a few laughs mixed in to keep things from getting too heavy. I enjoyed the listen, and noted down a couple of the authors mentioned to check out their works. The last speaker also gave me a great idea for a gift for a friend who I really think could benefit from a gratitude journal.

[princealbertofb]

*Just kind of stares at whatever the hell is going on in this thread and shakes his head.*

Thank you for the share, [MENTION=1766]princealbertofb[/MENTION] The vid had a lot of good information, a lot of quality validation for those in various stages of dealing with their depression, and offered some great reading options, as well as a few laughs mixed in to keep things from getting too heavy. I enjoyed the listen, and noted down a couple of the authors mentioned to check out their works. The last speaker also gave me a great idea for a gift for a friend who I really think could benefit from a gratitude journal.

[MENTION=20738]TwisttheLeaf[/MENTION], I'm glad you found it informative. I certainly listened to it with interest, and thought many of us might need that bit of a boost, considering we are a group that suffers from this kind of depression / self-deprecation big time.

Of course what NativeSon (who doesn't claim to be gay -- single, curious ?? WTF -- and therefore may not get it that we like the male form, I'm presuming) thinks is that it's ok to insult someone from the site, who meant him no harm, just on account of his not liking certain threads. Why does he bother to consult them? Everyone knows what's in those threads. I'd almost like to accomodate the gentleman by choosing some other publishing format but at the same time it just goes to show that he thinks I ought to be ashamed of myself for SHARING what I've found interesting. Anyone else can post in those threads. The fact is they don't wish to, or have no time to search, or find the topic annoying or worthless.

Anyway, suffice it to say that this thread, for once was not about male nudity, or art, or any part of the human body except the brain / mind.

To be honest, I don't know who's got the keenest sense of appropriateness. Thanks for your post, which says it all.

[princealbertofb]

*Just kind of stares at whatever the hell is going on in this thread and shakes his head.*

Thank you for the share, [MENTION=1766]princealbertofb[/MENTION] The vid had a lot of good information, a lot of quality validation for those in various stages of dealing with their depression, and offered some great reading options, as well as a few laughs mixed in to keep things from getting too heavy. I enjoyed the listen, and noted down a couple of the authors mentioned to check out their works. The last speaker also gave me a great idea for a gift for a friend who I really think could benefit from a gratitude journal.

A gratitude journal? Have you tried this out for yourself, ever?

[sillyboy86]

Thank you for sharing, this is an interesting theme, I've got personal reasons to care about mental health and I think it's something of -generally- underestimated importance. Or maybe I just ask too much question to myself, about everything...

[meridannight]

Sorry, I'm not gonna watch 48 minutes of an internet video. I don't watch any videos online, I have no patience for them. I much prefer a synopsis or a short recap in text.

But I wanted to say that this topic is absolutely relevant in our time. I have my own opinion on this whole subject. Our contemporary life is increasingly one that propagates isolation and misunderstanding between individuals. Relationships of any kind feel superficial, hurried, and often artificial. People don't connect as much as they would if our life was a little bit different, and people don't spend as much time nourishing the more important things in their life -- like friendship and their relationships with other people. Instead, friendship and relationships take a back seat to job, second job, long hours, and most of all -- MONEY. Money has become the number one relationship in most people's lives. But it doesn't offer happiness or satisfaction in one's personal life.

So, in the 21st century we have put ourselves in the circumstances where we're increasingly solitary, and isolated from our friends. Quality of life is down. And yet nobody has any time to do anything outside their busy schedules designed to increase more and more financial income as our expenditures go up with the increase in income. There's no end to this! You make more money, you start spending more money and then need to make even more to uphold the standard of living you've reached. Do people realize how ridiculous and what a bullshit this all is?

Instead of making it a priority to increase the quality of their life, people are aiming to increase possessions and money. And none of it will ever make anybody happy or satisfied in life.

This is crazy the way we live our lives. No wonder people are under stress all the time and depression has become prevalent. We don't live our lives in a meaningful way. So the fact that people are depressed, isn't surprising at all if you think about it.

And men suffer from this especially hard. Men's lives are driven toward career and toward being the provider for their families, and at the same time men are discouraged from deep (i.e. emotional) and meaningful relationships with others and activities other than those providing direct income. Depression in men is a real and sadly very much underestimated issue right now. Men in the western civilization are 3-4 times more likely to die from suicide than females, and in young men suicide comprises nearly 30% of the mortality.


This is all bloody insane. Our values and life quality are upside down in our society, in my opinion. And it's not gonna stop or get better, until we redefine our modern values on life, work, and human relationships. We've long abolished slavery, but most of us are still working like slaves to uphold a standard of living we can't afford or don't need! It's ultimately very sad, and it isn't going to end well. What do you expect out of a life like that?


The saddest part is -- it doesn't really take some drastic change to make things better. Instead of being geared toward income, we should be geared toward meaningful relationships with other people and cultivating and nourishing those connections. That is what money can't buy and that is what gives happiness in life. Friendships are worth more than a new car. But they also need time and effort. And instead of thinking about our daily life in terms of how much Euros we make per day/hour, we should let money take the back seat and invest all that time (that we use to earn money to buy things we don't really need) in our relationships with people in our lives and some other activities that are personally meaningful to us but which provide no income.


Human beings are ultimately social beings. We need an outlet for what it is we feel inside and an environment in which we can freely express our emotions, and we need deep and meaningful (not just any kind will do!) interaction with other people. Human beings do not derive satisfaction from money, no matter how superficially true it may seem at times. So, you take that social outlet away, or reduce it to a meaningless state and the result is disillusionment, alienation and dissatisfaction with life. Which is right where we've landed in the 21st century, in my opinion.

[meridannight]

There is a book kind of on this topic that I remembered in association with this thread. I haven't read the book myself yet, so I have no idea how good it is or isn't, but I very much want to read it. Just gonna post it, if anybody's interested:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9051..._Our_Heads






(Apparently there are two different cover editions).