I’m feeling some schadenfreude. Forgive me. But when a big red wave becomes light spotting, I have relief, yes, but also a little joy in the pain and chaos unfolding in the red tent.
Now let’s pretend I’m not talking about politics. This is an opportunity to give a nod toward Brene Brown’s new series “Atlas of the Heart” and talk about feelings. Loved this series btw. I’m going to rewatch all 5 episodes!
When something BAD happens in the red tent, how do blue tenters feel?
When something GOOD happens in the red tent, how do blue tenters feel?
Schadenfreude comes from the German meaning harm/joy. When there’s harm to red tenters and blue tenters take joy – it is called schadenfreude.
It is not a laudable feeling – and yet it happens. It may feel defensible (especially when you consider who the political Red Tenters currently are. It feels like they’re getting their comeuppance.) But if red tenters were simply people who lived in a red tent, nearby your blue tent, you might feel bad about taking joy in others’ misery.
But feelings are feelings. If you don’t like your feeling, you have to be conscious enough to change it. Some people eat, drink, shop, tweet or talk on TV to change their feelings. You can also quietly think about how you might look at the situation differently, and see how that feels. All by yourself, you can adopt an empathetic thought and see how it feels.
Thoughts are in your head.
Feelings are in your body.
And btw, if you don’t know its opposite… it’s freudenfreude or joy/joy, roughly translated. Politics rarely takes a freudenfreude stance on wins and losses, particularly bec it’s adversarial by nature. It is a zero-sum game. If they win, by definition, we lose.
But in real life, in actual blue or red tents, people don’t live in zero-sum games. We can all win. We can win by helping others. We can take joy in others’ winning.
How do you feel this morning? It feels better to feel good.
PS. No relation whatsoever to Dr. Sigmund Freud – whose name just meant Joy. Ironic, right?