To Whine or Not To Whine

Jimmy Walter, one of the regular contributors at the REBT-CBT Forum Yahoogroup http://bit.ly/REBT-Yahoo  was generous enough to allow us to use his wonderful spoof on Hamlet's timeless soliloquy.   Special treat, at the end, see video of Dr. Ellis's singing his famous "Whine! Whine! Whine!" song…

 

Dr. Ellis loved making fun of our distorted thinking and irrational behavior with humorous rational songs, and  limericks.   Such humorous disputing is definitely a part of the REBT legacy, but one we don't hear a lot about, unfortunately.   Personally, I love looking at the dialog in media (non-fiction, fiction, serious and trashy, news and entertainment, modern and historical. Soap opera is terrific for this) and pick out the distortions and see how they drive the emotions of the characters.  Soap operas in particular are non-stop musterbation!  Great fun to watch the characters inflaming one another for 30 minutes!  I find this wonderfully helpful because, in the first place, it's fun and, it is always easier in the beginning to pick out other people's distortions than one's own. If I were to teach a class in REBT-CBT, this type of activity would definitely feature prominently in the course. Thanks, Jimmy!  Enjoy, and let us know what you think . . .

To Whine or Not To Whine

by

Jimmy Walter

Dedicated to Dr Albert Ellis

Hello, I am Jimmy Walter. This is dedicated to Dr Albert Ellis, founder of the cognitive branch of psychology. Dr Ellis was voted the most influential psychologist by the American Psychology Association.

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The scene is Hamlet, just after his famous soliloquy. A figure steps from the shadows to comment on what he has just overheard.

To whine or not to whine: that is the question:

Tis merely in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of exaggerated misfortune,

Take reason against the charades of catastrophes,

And by disputing end them! See it, Awaken;

No more; and by awaking we say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand imagined shocks

That ego is heir to. Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. So see it, awaken;

Wake to your chance to soar: aye there's delight;

For in that dawn of insight what heights will come

When we have shuffled off our moral foil,

Must give us hope. There's the respect

That makes equanimity for a long life;

For who wouldnt bear the whips and scorns of mistresses,

The oppressor's prong, the proud man's costumes,

The pangs of disprized lust, the lewd display,

The insolence of orifice, or the time

and patient merit each person deserves,

When he himself might his own mind quiet

With but a fair appraisal? Who wouldn't old farts bear,

And laugh and play even under a weary life,

Since logic slays the dread of things here and after death,

That undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveler returns (Hawaii, Tahiti? Fuji!), frees the will,

And let's us bear rather well those ills we have

Than fly to others that we imagine less.

Thus intellect can make heroes of us all;

And thus the native hue of disillusion

Is taken o'er by the hale heart of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents surge, then fly,

And take the name of action!

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In all fairness to Shakespeare–centuries before Dr Ellis–Skakespeare penned Ellis's  main insight in this same play in the scene with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: "… for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

© 2017, Rex Alexander. All rights reserved.

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© Copyright 2017 Rex Alexander, All rights Reserved. Written For:

Originally posted 2013-01-23 08:05:17.

Tags: demanding, limericks., rational songs, Shakespeare, Whine, Whine! Whine! Whine!