Butch Femme Planet - I Believe..

I believe there is randomness to life.
I believe if people don’t find love it isn’t necessarily because they aren’t ready, etc. It could just be because they didn’t happen to be in the right place at the right time to meet the right person.
Likewise, I believe that if bad things happen to people, it isn’t necessarily because they made it happen in some unconscious or conscious way—it might just be because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I believe that fearing the randomness of life causes people to incorrectly attribute cause-and-effect logic to their actions—and miss the stuff they really need to focus on.
I believe that fearing the randomness of life often comes from a fear of not having control over one’s life.
I believe the most arrogant people are often the most fragile people.
I believe the most aggressive people are often the most fearful people.
I believe the most intolerant people are often the most isolated people.
I believe the happiest people are often the most flexible people.
I believe that people who live longest are not only the ones who lucked out genetically and had good health care, but are those who continue staying open to new connections with others.
I believe the destructiveness of religion far outweighs its usefulness.
I believe that if all religions disappeared, the ways in which they are useful—creating community, honoring life’s milestones, alleviating fear of death—would emerge in non-religious forms that work just as well.
That said, I believe the ways in which religions are destructive—codifying oppression, controlling behavior in ways that hurt some people—would also, unfortunately, emerge in effective, non-religious forms.
I believe people (myself included) think they are in love not because of how they feel about a person, but because of how that person makes them feel about themselves.
I believe for-profit entities will never do right by the humans, animals and ecosystems that enable their success, unless they are forced to do so.
I believe it’s better to forgive a friend, relative, lover, co-worker or other, because otherwise you deprive yourself of what you enjoy about them and benefit from.
That said, I believe that when the deficits outweigh the benefits, it’s better to let a connection with someone dissolve.
I believe it’s really hard to assess the benefits versus the deficits in any kind of human relationships because our need for the benefits makes us go into denial about the deficits.
I believe shame is the internalization of other people’s or a culture’s desire to control my behavior in ways that are not in my best interest.
I believe my biology as a human prevents me from understanding concepts like infinity and time.
I believe romantic love is a chemical experience sometimes felt as a kind of resonance in other parts of the body (for me, it resonates in the chest cavity and I feel it in a cardio-vascular way).
I believe that when events or circumstances triggering the chemical experience change, romantic love can change.
I believe that successful, long-term romantic love continues to access the chemical experience, places it in the context of intellectual understanding and appreciation, and is flexible as people change over time.
I believe the earth is dying, and the damage will not be reversed in time to stop its death. I believe that this is not a reflection on how evil humans are, but how human humans are, and I believe this is no excuse not to try and reverse the damage.
I believe coyotes will survive longer than wolves, because they are willing to eat our garbage and sneak into our habitat, to get it. Any living thing that can adapt in order to co-exist with humans, will last longer than those that retreat further and further into shrinking non-humanized zones.
I believe the commitment to see myself and others clearly, keeps all my long-term relationships alive—unless what I eventually see is not what I signed on for.
I believe it’s possible other life forms exist beyond those on Earth.
I believe there has been cultural resistance to female comediennes because laughter is a physical response, and there is discomfort with females controlling the physical response of large groups.
I believe people with different beliefs can often get along just fine, though it might impact on the extent to which they are involved, or the type of relationship they might have.
I believe trust is my deepest bond with any person.
I believe that pretending to be happy; doing and saying the things a happy person would do or say, sometimes tricks us into authentic happiness—just as there is biological evidence that when we force ourselves to smile, it creates the pathway in the brain that triggers a smile, and sometimes, creating that pathway, even in a “backwards” way, results in happiness.
I believe my beliefs are actually opinions, because they are not based on faith, but instead are based on fact, or the evidence of my experience.
I believe people are drawn to my charisma and repelled by my fear. I believe my fear is sometimes valid, sometimes not.
I believe my closest friends are the ones who see my fear in the context of who I am, and love my fear just as they love my strength.
I believe I attract domineering people because my fear reads like permission to be dominated.
I believe I attract dishonest people because my unusually developed ability to listen reads like uncritical acceptance of all I hear.
I believe I attract intelligent people because they are relieved to go somewhere unexpected with their brain.
I believe I attract kind people because they are tired of being the kind one all the time, and yearn to be treated tenderly, themselves.
I believe I will live longer than I want to, and not as long as I hope for.
I believe my dreams are filled with the sensation of nostalgia because I am trying to reinvent my life and am looking for models from my past.
I believe my beliefs are often alienating to others.
I believe that doesn’t matter.
I believe anyone who has read to the end of this post is likely to be someone I either appall, or make happy in some way.