If someone asked you to define the word “Notorious“. How would you define it? Wait…don’t look up the dictionary.
You would most likely say, “Someone infamous, scandalous, ill-famed for notoriety”. Perhaps you will jump into explaining with examples such as Genghis Khan the conqueror, Vlad the Impaler, Jack the Ripper? How about Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung? History is rampant with evil personalities and folk lore abounds with stories of their misdeeds.
But sometimes dark evil places, infamous for evil committed years ago can be notorious too. How about dangerous places that are either difficult to reach or so unfriendly to habitation that they invoke our awe despite their looming danger. Places like the “suicide forest” in Japan, Grand Canyon in Arizona, Valley of Death in Russia, Erte volcano in Ethiopia (gates to hell) and many more.
Now would you consider something as nebulous as “thoughts” to be notorious? But thoughts can be pretty notorious, right? Random thoughts can be rather disturbing when you need peace of mind…isn’t it? Imagine a train of negative thoughts that won’t let you be happy. How about the time you are trying to meditate and you just cannot because random thoughts won’t stop bothering you. Students will agree nothing can be more destructive than random thoughts when they are trying to focus on a lecture or taking an exam.
Yet dark places and people carry the greatest intrigue for us. Even though what can hurt us the most is not other people or dark distant places but ourselves. We alone can ruin our peace of mind and chances for success more than anything else in the world.
That puts a different perspective on things completely, doesn’t it? Now over to you, what is the first thing that comes to mind with the word notorious?
UBeCute 
Nice writing….
Thank you fortunately human.
My pleasure….NJ….regards….
Love your different interpretations of notorious. Agree that thoughts can be notorious. Sometimes I’ll have a bad day and my negative thoughts will go around and around in circles in my head – I’d be telling myself that the worse can happen. I’ve learn to deal with this over the years by telling myself that around tough times, there are happier times awaiting us 🙂 To me, notorious is being stuck in a cycle you can’t get out of – but sometimes all it takes is a bit of courage to go after what you love doing – for me, that is making time for writing 🙂
Mabel I could not have agreed with you more. And yes we all go through those negative thoughts which kill our peace of mind and more so our health. I also agree writing for those who love to write is a better cure than any drugs or therapy. Keep up the good word Mabel and do stay in touch. Grateful for your words.
Notorious has a negativity connotation to it. Normally people are called so, or the places famous for bizarre activities like ruins with paranormal issues.
Agreed fully. I do remember going to Alcatraz. There is this cell that Birdman used to inhabitate for special punishments in Ward D. It was open to public. Not only is it sad, dark and dreary it has this nasty aura to it. I felt faint and could not stand for even a second and had to rush out. Funny how that incident came out of nowhere.
Yeah, some places are like that.
Unfortunately, the answer is my next-door neighbor. He is notorious for scamming the system and taking advantage of people and places. But, as with most notorious people, it catches up with him. My notorious neighbor is now under the watchful eye of the local police force. I hope he straightens out his life because he’s young man and has a long way to go.
Haha. It must be nasty living next to a crook like that.
It always catches up with you when you try to scam the system. She filed for divorce and they lost their house because they weren’t making payments