{"id":332,"date":"2008-02-14T06:27:24","date_gmt":"2008-02-14T10:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/"},"modified":"2016-08-21T08:48:49","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T16:48:49","slug":"embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing the Beauty of Sadness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p align=\"center\">\n<p><em>Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy. -Aristotle<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We live in a society obsessed with happiness. This site is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/happiness-without-the-hype-what-it-really-means-and-how-to-find-it\/\">no exception<\/a>. We&#8217;re constantly prodded with questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are you happy?<\/li>\n<li>Why not?<\/li>\n<li>Why don&#8217;t you do something to make yourself happy?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sadness is perceived as unnatural and malignant. We&#8217;re encouraged to do whatever it takes to stop feeling sad. Frequently this means using anti-depressant drugs or other substances to physically change our mood.<\/p>\n<p>But what&#8217;s the hidden cost of eradicating sadness?<\/p>\n<p>Author Eric G. Wilson provides a discussion of what we might be losing in his book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Against-Happiness-Melancholy-Eric-Wilson\/dp\/0374240663\">Against Happiness<\/a>. Listen to this <a href=\"http:\/\/static.podcatch.com\/landingPages\/podcast0062.html\">brief interview on NPR<\/a> to get the gist.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson argues that sadness isn&#8217;t a bad thing. In fact, it goes hand in hand with creative genius. Countless thinkers (Hemingway and Lincoln to name a couple) have been prone to bouts of extreme sadness.<\/p>\n<p>Sadness contributes to creative achievement as well as tragic demise. Would the world be better off if Hemingway had popped Prozac and lived to be 100?<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know. And this isn&#8217;t meant to be an attack against anti-depressant medication or the people that need it. But what about the marginal people who experience the full spectrum of emotion?<\/p>\n<p>Why are we so down on feeling down?<\/p>\n<p>Next time you&#8217;re overcome by a melancholy mood, consider this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is the cause of your sadness? Often the answer to this question can be the realization you need to make a change.<\/li>\n<li>How does sadness allow you to appreciate the pain of others?<\/li>\n<li>Does sadness make the happy times feel happier? Does it not have it&#8217;s own beauty?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Image by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/people\/joaogrando\/\">Joao Grando<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sadness is perceived as unnatural and malignant. We&#8217;re encouraged to do whatever it takes to stop feeling sad. Frequently this means using anti-depressant drugs or other substances to physically change our mood. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":12726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[21,6],"tags":[2711,1641,2576,2710,290,2709],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadness is perceived as unnatural and malignant. We&#039;re encouraged to do whatever it takes to stop feeling sad. Frequently this means using anti-depressant drugs or other substances to physically change our mood.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sadness is perceived as unnatural and malignant. We&#039;re encouraged to do whatever it takes to stop feeling sad. Frequently this means using anti-depressant drugs or other substances to physically change our mood.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-02-14T10:27:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-21T16:48:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sad_beautiful_woman1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Falconer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sad_beautiful_woman1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sad_beautiful_woman1.jpg\",\"width\":340,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Embracing sadness\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/\",\"name\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/embracing-the-beauty-of-sadness\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-02-14T10:27:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-21T16:48:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5\"},\"description\":\"Sadness is perceived as unnatural and malignant. 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