Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for July 26, 2024

It IS allowed, and don’t call me Shirley!

People like Pig scare me.

Pig no longer holds balloons…

Probably had ham and eggs for breakfast

Probably going to need a license.

I’m with Pig on this one.

You are quite right, Rat. It isn’t allowed.

Rat is German… I never knew.

Good attitude pig

Try convincing all the ‘Rain on Paraders’ out there! My two cents!

“Oh, what a glorious day!” Pig should get together with Verne (from Pearls Before Swine) and his gut bacteria today.

It’s not always easy, but choosing to find joy in whatever your circumstances are can help not only you, but others around you.

This is why Pig is my favorite.

Now I cannot tunes from Oklahoma! out of my head. You’re welcome, everyone…

Not allowed in Rat’s world anyway!

Ignorance is bliss?!

Decades ago, a guy named Norman Cousins (I think) wrote about the restorative power of laughter in the midst of pain and sickness. I suspect that applies to all aspects of life. When one of our sons was going through a really hard time, I decided advice wasn’t what he needed, so I just randomly started texting him a dad joke every day. I felt we had turned a corner when he started texting corny jokes to me. It’s good to see him laugh.

True joy comes from knowing Jesus. It stays, and is a PART of you. Worldly joy comes and goes like the tide, and you have to make a conscious effort for it.

Pig understands Niebuhr’s “Serenity Prayer”

Joy is infectious, so is gloom. Attitude is important. It is up to us all to make our lives better or worse in what we choose to project to others. Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Croc Power !

“Oh, what a glorious day!” Pig should get together with Verne (from Over the Hedge) and his gut bacteria today.

I am lucky to lunch with my favorite adult child about every 4 to 6 weeks. After, when I walk home, I feel so uplifted. We laugh, we talk, we catch up on what’s been happening. So joyful.

People who think this way are dangerous.

You can choose to be happy, or gloomy

Pig is that ray of sunshine we all could use.

Pig is my spirit animal :)

Reminds me of the ending in the movie, Brazil.

“That boy ain’t right!”

You have to allow it.

Awww, Pig is such a ray of sunshine.

Nothing is ever so bad that it can’t get worse.

Look, pig’s discovered stoicism.

But considering the lymbic system is a an autonomic function, well, we really don’t get to choose our emotional state. Though we can control how they effect our actions.

Also don’t pursue this line with people suffering from depression.

I don’t know if I can stay at “Joyful,” but I do a pretty good job of “Hopeful Shalom.”

Misery loves company

Pastis must have a bet with someone as to how many comments will mention Shirley. Why else would he tee it up so well for us?

Easier said than done some days, but I try.

The rose colored glasses are strong with this one.

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs” you aren’t paying attention.

A lovely sentiment. I try this all the time.

GBPig!

Shrinks keep telling us that a sunny attitude helps us live better and longer. But as Wallace Stevens says in his poem “Sunday Morning”, “But when the birds are gone, and their warm fields Return no more, where, then, is paradise?”

It is… but of course, if things are bad enough, you’ll get tossed in a looney bin.

Depends on who you are standing next to.

Isn’t his name Goat?

I woke up late this morning and was annoyed at myself because I had several important things to do today. Then, over a bowl of “cereal artesanal” with dried apple and “jarabe de agave”, a wild hail and rainstorm blew up, and I was so grateful that I was still inside my warm, cozy apartment.

Try it! You’ll like it! Or, well, in your case maybe not.

Sometimes people will think you’re either nuts, high, or faking.

So Goat’s secret name is Shirley?

It’s Friday for goodness sake! If you can’t be happy about the weekend coming up, you must have a wife and a long honey-do list. I’m kidding. I’m kidding. It’s a summer weekend. Be happy and enjoy it!

I dunno what Pig’s on, but I gotta get me sum a that!

Oh, but it is.

The joy comes from knowing others will never understand.

True freedom is freedom from the heart’s desires…true Happiness… this way lies…

People are as happy as they choose to be-Abraham Lincoln

I disagree with Pig and his nonsensical statement, that one can choose to be joyous. Like other mantras from the American positive psychology cult, it is a hollow approach to life. For example, to be joyous implies to feel joy, and who has any control on one’s feelings? They come unbidden. On the other hand, you can’t think yourself into feeling joyous anymore than you can fall in love by just thinking about it. On the other, to consider one’s feelings under any given circumstance and learn from them is, to me, a more productive approach.

I’ve seen him on TV playing for Manchester City and now Arsenal but I’ve never met him. Not sure it would make a big difference to my life if I did.