Beyond the Rhetoric and the Pain

Recently, a very close family member of mine, on reading the title of the previous post felt compelled to tell me that it seemed extremely irrational. This family member is known for her excessively critical and offensive tirades but her negative attack really shocked me. In response to her and any potential critics, first of all, and perhaps most importantly, I practice non-violence; so when I say destroy the Evil Empire, I insist that it is done non-violently. As I cited in the epigraph to the post, "satyagraha [means the] practice of nonviolent resistance...love and firmness" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyagraha). The term comes not just from Vandana Shiva but originally from Mahatma Gandhi.

Quite frankly, I am well aware that both “feel better than ever before” and its more aggressive manifestation of “destroy the Evil Empire completely, permanently now” are not appreciated by many people. Especially when one is dealing with particularly painful circumstances--perhaps worst of all the death of a loved one--it probably seems inappropriate to feel better than ever before. I do not recommend trying to feel better than ever before if you cannot manage it. However, I agree with Ziggy Marley that: “there’s a rainbow in the sky all the time.” If you are not able to focus enough on the blessings in life, even in the midst of otherwise terrible circumstances, then life would not be worth living. I hope people realize that the life practice of “FEEL BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE” is neither a random development nor a product of an irrational person. I may not be able to control what you think of me but I will not let the only idea that has allowed me to rescue my life from some of the most depressing circumstances ever fall into the mire of those who are not capable of nuanced analysis and reflection.

P.S. There are over twenty pages worth of text that document my systematic approach to this practice; however, I am not going to waste my time publishing them for free on this blog. Also the conflicts that have come to light via this blog and previous online failures of mine are proof that the internet often has a negative impact on society and on each individual. "As we look for validation and our daily 15 minutes of fame, we do so at the cost of our humanity" (http://calacanis.com/2009/01/29/we-live-in-public-and-the-end-of-empathy/). For this and many other reasons, including that I can spend my time doing much more fun things--especially existing to improve the well-being of the most loving and the most indispensable people, including myself, as much as possible and skateboarding--I plan on deleting this blog and probably my entire online presence--except for things that help me to practice FEEL BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE--in the upcoming months and keeping my life and work offline in the best way. I thank God for FEEL BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE, which I currently have trademarked via www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp.

Here is a picture of our best-selling, Brazilian inspired, design: ME SINTO MELHOR DO QUE NUNCA. TM. We are also getting great responses about our design in Dutch (Nederlands).


New flagship site with ongoing improvements: www.ifeelbetterthaneverbefore.com. I, Paul Ainsworth Francis, feel better than ever before.