A Poetic Rendition of Irrational Thinking

It is better

To almost never

Say never.

It’s not that you should or shouldn’t;

Just that it is better..

Not that you can’t.

You most certainly can.

Not that you have to.

You surely do not.

It’s just that it’s better

To almost never

Say never.

And, it is better

To hardly ever

Say always.

It’s not that you should or shouldn’t,

It’s just better that you don’t.

Not that you absolutely

Cannot ever say always

Just that it’s better said

Hardly ever.

For how many things really

Are always and never?

Sometimes perhaps,

Or even a lot,

Maybe rarely,

But hardly ever

Always or never.

Should is another

That’s better not said

For too many shoulds

Will fluck up your head

And bring you down

With the talk of the town.

For should is a shaming word

That according to Ellis*

Goes from should hood to shit hood

In a minute or less

And leaves you feeling quite a mess.

Perhaps it would be better,

But almost never should it.

If I should do this and shouldn’t that

Shame fills the space beneath my hat,

For if I should but don’t

What am I but a nothing?

And if I shouldn’t but I do

I am nothing but a fool.

So better not to should on yourself

And leave the “should” word on the shelf,

Far, far away from yourself.

Let’s move on to either and or,

And leave these words outside the door.

Either and or

When I am thinking

Will limit my choices

To just the two,

Either and or,

And just ignore

That fact that there are plenty more

Between either and or

That are probably better

Than either and or

And certainly more

Than either and or.

Let’s not forget

All or nothing

That tells me lies about my choices;

That there are only the two:

All or nothing,

And if I can’t have it all,

Then I don’t want nothin’.

The truth of the matter is

That some

A little

A few

Several

Many

And more

Can be better than nothing

Though clearly not all.

And doesn’t make me a nothing

But someone who got a few; but not all.

Like should hood leads to shit hood

Must and have to are….

Musterbations of the mind,

According to Master Ellis,

The father of the rational mind.

When we tell ourselves we must and have to

And really we only prefer to,

We’re creating a great deal of stress

That’s imaginary at best,

And irrational, according to Ellis.

Feel the difference between have to and choose to

And that between must and want to.

No one wants to have to.

We all would like to choose to.

And even if I truly am forced to

I still can choose the how to.

Seeing people and things

As all good or all bad

Is another mistake that will

Mess with your head –

Especially when the person is dead

And all we have of them

Is what’s in our head.

No one is as perfectly good as a god,

Or as totally bad as a demon might be.

We all are imperfect

Yet not entirely flawed

And we all have some good,

Still, we are not God.

When I see you as all bad

And you try to do good

I might conclude

that while your deed is good

Your motive is not

And condemn you to hell

With the rest of your lot.

When you are all good to me,

I hold you on a pedestal

Til I see the inevitable flaw.

Then I open the trap door

On your pedestal floor

And watch you hang

From the gallows where you once were adored.

And condemn you to hell

Though I am not the Lord.

So whether you are demonized or deified

Your fate is just the same

When my mind is not so sane.

If in my head I awfulize

And catastrophize

A thing that is only unfortunate;

Not horrible or awful

Or the end of the world,

I’ll likely catch can’t-standitis;

A fate much worse than hepatitis,

Where I simply can’t stand it anymore,

And have to run to the nearest door,

To escape a drama

That only exists

In a mind that’s sore

From awful cysts.

I can drown my sorrow in a bottle of gin

That’ll keep me from feeling such dread again

At least until the gin takes over.

Then I can feast on awful again,

And drink myself to oblivion.

Where my thoughts go

My heart and feet will follow

If I am depressing myself

Or making me panic

Be assured my thoughts are frantically

Filled with fear and sorrow

Because of a should

Always or never

Either or

Must or have to

That can be replaced

With something more rational

That will help me feel

A bit more stable

And make choices that are responsible.