Hello, blogosphere: how are you feeling today?
– “I’m feeling so guilty,” says someone from the eastern shore of Maryland
– “I’m working so hard to deal with the anger I’m feeling,” says someone in the UK.
– “I feel like I’m not doing a good enough job at anything,” says someone in Massachusetts.
– “I feel the real me within myself again,” says someone in Singapore.
– “I am allowing myself to feel and deal with what is in my heart and mind,” says someone in Kansas.
I recently received a link to the fascinating website wefeelfine.org. The site harvests “feelings” from an enormous number of blogs to create an emotional database, which it then makes manifest in a chaotic visual representation. The person who sent me the link described it as “a funky little web applet Java thingie which is remarkably profound when you realize that the little balls floating around are people’s souls laid bare yet at once coyly hidden behind the anonymity of online media forms.”
We Feel Fine is neat because you can filter by age, by city, by gender, and by weather! The top three feelings when it’s snowy? Able, lucky, and new.
The top three feelings when it’s sunny? Lazy, lucky, and ready.
Seems like for the most part, regardless of everything, people feel pretty good. Or at least that’s how they’re describing themselves on the internet. Which I find remarkable because I always thought of blogs as a dumping ground for self-pity. It makes me think that perhaps more people than we know are using the blogging world, instead, as an opportunity for positive self reflection and a chance to look toward a more hopeful future. As the authors of We Feel Fine say, “At its core, We Feel Fine is an artwork authored by everyone. … We hope it makes the world seem a little smaller, and we hope it helps people see beauty in the everyday ups and downs of life.”
Weather: Hazy and 30 degrees
Mood:
Hannah: 5 out of 10 on the “can’t get out of bed” to “jumping for joy” scale. Tired.
Anna: is in Vienna, hopefully eating chocolate cake.
Ditch the Umbrella 