Drawing From the Poisoned Well

At times in life one wonders, why do I knowingly do things that are no good for me? Maybe you have met people who only seem to do things which are no good for them, as if they were washing down their poisoned apple, with side of poisoned pills, and a vial of poison. Doing everything possible to make sure that they fail in this life, seemingly to become nothing more then the sign for poison a skull and crossbones.

Having studied psychology and having rolled it over many times in my mind (and having people who do the same in my life) I have come to see that people that do this aren't looking for death but someone to save them from it, or save them from themselves as it were.  Psychologically these individuals at a young age learned that getting attention was easiest when doing things that one is not suppose to. Over time they have become addicted to the attention of having someone try and talk sense into them, try parent them, and for affirmation.  While others have come accustomed to gaining praise and attention for the things they have accomplished which leads them to try to excel as an individual, they have found that attention is quicker and easier to gain by touching hot stoves.

Attention is like water it is essential for life, everyone needs it to survive.  Many psychical  and psychological conditions spread from the lack of attention  such as failure to thrive and other maladies.  When one garners attention from others there are two kinds of water in this sense that one can draw from, the fresh clean drinking water which is harder to obtain and is given for one good works and then there is the poisoned well water which is easy to obtain yet poisons those who drinks it.  For in life, one must do all the work themselves to draw fresh clean water from wells, while (for some reason) people are quick to give away the water from a poisoned well.  When an individual begins their life they taste both types of water and over time having been given more of the poisoned water they decide this is the type of water meant for me so I had better get used to the taste.

Over a longer period of time the individual begins to like their poisoned water and how others react towards their weakness having to to give them clean water because of their over-consumption of water from the poisoned well.  After a while they gain a tolerance of it like a snake handler with venom. While they still want more of the clean water and they have grown accustomed to not having to work for it. To this end they begin eating poisoned apples, popping poisoned pills, and drinking poison vials to more affect others in hopes of gaining their sympathy. They have drawn poisoned water from others wells so long that their own wells are poisoned.

If your having a hard time figuring out who these people are in your life, or if you are one yourself to set metaphor aside for a moment.  Those who are often thinking of suicide and don't know why are looking for clean water, hoping that someone will save them or even God will appear and save them giving their life significance. Maybe you are a person who is constantly shooting yourself in the foot so that someone can rush in and try to save the day.  Due to the obsession to this cycle they  create themselves into  the un-savable maiden. This is the reason why one of the most common tattoos found in this countries prison is "born to lose", it is not because the individuals were born to lose but because they have taught themselves to.  If one cannot figure out why they keep getting poison when looking for food, its not that the world itself is poisoned.  It is because you are drawing from a poisoned well.Of coarse this is not true in every case with individuals who can't seem to get a break in life, however one would be wise to make sure while gleaming water from others wells,make sure you don't poison your own.