Farmer sent me a very interesting email the other day. Basically the gist of it was, you choose to be happy or not. Don't let your emotions rule you, just choose to be this way or that.
I think the idea is great. Hey, pesky emotions... kiss my butt, you're history. But if I get rid of all my emotions (good and bad) don't I become a Vulcan? Now I know some of you think that I am an alien anyway so I am in no hurry to perpetuate that vicious rumor. So, I guess I'll be keeping some of those pesky emotions around.
But I do get what they are trying to say. Perhaps I need to find a little more middle ground. The highs maybe won't be quite as high, but the lows won't be as brutal either. And I need to not let the people around me affect how I am feeling on any given day. So what if they're in a pissy mood... that doesn't mean I need to be... right? Right? Right...
I think I am making some headway on the middle ground effort. Yesterday we were in a meeting about streamlining a project that I have to produce every 2 months (the one that usually has me working 60+ hours in a week). In the middle of the meeting all of a sudden it got onto the creative side of things. I consider this my personal space... and they were invading it. In the past I would have gotten all up in arms and tried to defend my space. Instead I did something that I have never done before... I just sat back and let them talk themselves out. Lo and behold, once they wound down they realized how nice a job I had been doing and basically told me to keep doing what I've been doing...
Huh... well, that worked out nicely. And with relatively no input from me. Go figure. Perhaps my mother has been right all along... silence is golden. Perhaps not quite what she was referencing... but it worked for me. Thanks mom... perhaps I should have been listening to you more all these years.
All in all, it's all about choice. And it always has been... I just didn't realize it.
Introducing: Harvest Hill Serenchipity
1 hour ago
Emotions are rollercoasters that really suck. I remember once I started dating Mr. III, he had me feeling them again, while I hadn't truely felt them in a good year, year and a half. You never want to be numb to everything around you, that's not the best way to be, but being in control of your emotions rather than letting your emotions being in control of you, is an amazing feeling. Emotions can be like a lively horse: seemingly untamable by those who are novice, and needing to be broken by those who are nieve. But to the right trainer, the lively, beautiful horse will have its spirit be nurtured into an amazing horse that everyone gawks in wonder at.
ReplyDeletePerhaps i'm trying to hard to be profound.
Wow, I'm so impressed that you just sat back and let them talk it out without being defensive. That is an amazing amount of self-control. I need to learn how to shut up in meetings. You'll need to give me lessons.
ReplyDeleteWay to go!
I'm hoping to build on this small win :)
ReplyDelete