NOT an example of art - but I like the text of William James (yep, interesting brother of Henry) which I found on a page from my sketch diary on 4.9.2020:
"To get into a good mood, one has to straighten oneself blithefully, and act in a way as if the good mood is already there."
For me it works.
What do you do to lift your mood if necessary?
(PS: Question: I wrote "as if the good mood were almost there", but autocorrection stubbornly underlines that with red. Would my word be wrong? Should it, good mood being singular, be "was"?)
In the subjunctive mood you would have been correct in using were. The red line was not differentiating between subjunctive tense and past tense.
ReplyDeleteGood to see a page of your sketch diary. What do I do to lift my mood? I am usually in a good mood anyway but if necessary to change my mood I think happy thoughts, move on to a different subject and brush myself down and carry on. Have a good day Britta. xx
Dear Rachel, thank you! Yes, I wanted the subjunctive - and as it vanished in the Netherlands almost completely, and is in German an endangered species too, I thought: maybe in England it is the same phenomenon?
DeleteI am glad that it isn't - I love languages which are full of nuances (and not only full of emojis, to relate to Tom's post.
"( :-)"
I try to stop thinking about the future.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blog
ReplyDeletePlease read my post
ReplyDeleteYou have a lovely hand, Britta! Another thing to admire around here :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not often afflicted by sour moods and if I am, I quite like to have a bit of a wallow, for it is such a novelty. And for why do we have within us the ability to experience such things if not to experience them? Anyway, it will rarely last as something amusing usually passes my way and it vanishes like a soap bubble.
Lovely music also has that effect. And speaking of interesting brothers, some lovely music warmed our cockles the other night when we heard played a baroque lovely by the elder and lesser known of the Bach brothers and sons of JS, one Wilhelm Friedemann. I defy anyone to say they still have the hump after a joyous 10 minutes listening to Sinfonia in D minor!
Thank you, dear Pip!
DeleteI also seldom get the blues, and eagerly picked up your graphic expression "to have the hump" - there I see a link to dear Mr. James: posture! It is really important (and I have to struggle a bit to remind myself to stand tall).
As my late Friend and Whatsoever Barefoot doctor said to difficult moods: "As long as you enjoy it..."
My answer to the blues is writing, reading, talking, walking, nature, gratitude, drawing - all things that "draw" me out of myself (I forgot "cooking" - a very funny book is "Blue Jelly" by Debby Bull - though it is a onetime-read, not to buy. Or the very, very light diet of "Monsieur Pampelmouse" of Michael Bond (creator of Paddington Bear - greetings from the triplets! - a fictional food critic and detective in the genre "cozy detective novels")
Yes, I know music by Friedemann Bach. (His life was heavy, and he seemed to have the hump justly).
As to music I found something so wonderful that I will put it into another "snippet".
The subjunctive tense is going the way of spelling. There is no mood, no reflection. It is all as it sounds and in the present.
ReplyDeleteThat is a witty summary of what happens to language, Joanne! All time people have complained about the decline of language and mores, but nowadays it happens so rapidly. Sheer laziness, ignorance or indifference, "helped" by autocorrection (though, to be fair: many journalists don't have a good training anymore and are paid badly)
DeleteI don't like the use of the present tense for past events. It sounds like an intentional attempt to rewrite history.
ReplyDeleteDear Helen, sorry that I couldn't answer earlier, I was in Hamburg and Berlin - and I agree. The subjunctive is a form of possibility, a nuance that changes what is said - and as you say: language moulds reality - and it's perception. (If I go very far: also the responsibility)
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