C h r o n i c l e s ...

Be Upbeat and Beat the Blues

Why is the HDB gearing itself to build 2-room flats and a budget focused on bringing up low-wage workers? Two different news items appearing almost simultaneously suggest that people and the economy are not doing well.

Nevertheless, our practitioners of politics continue to spout that they are optimistic and upbeat about the economy.

Psychologically, this is a strategy to adopt when you’re feeling low. It chases away the blues. Never mind that you are a cock-eyed optimist. The ends justify the means.

An optimistic personality reduces stress and in reducing stress we fight off illness. Personality affects immune cell strength which influences whether people become sick or not, psychologists say. Tests on the immune system show it is not stress but the way we respond to it that triggers illness and, as expected, those who feel in control have better immune ability.

Mozart was at the lowest point of his life when he composed Symphony No.41. He cast aside his dire circumstances to produce a piece of work that dazzles with vigor, brilliance and majesty. Listening to it, one is literally swept off the feet and carried along with the tide at every trill and twill. There is nothing like it to boost one’s flagging spirit. This majestic piece of work is appropriately nicknamed "Jupiter" and, in Holst's The Planets, Jupiter is dubbed the “Bringer of Jollity”.

posted by Victor Lai @ 6:43 AM