DISCLAIMER: These are my thoughts! It is not my attention to offend anyone. If it happens, I apologize. However, it is my hope that my thoughts will give you reason to think anew.
We All Start Off Right!
We all have been made in the image of God! No exceptions! We have defined that image as love, peace, unconditional love with no judgements, and all the other spiritual attributes that we claim He (God) represents. Yet, we seem not to match those attributes we say we are made in the image of. Now…we have good intentions to mirror the God image within us, but sometimes we get tripped up and get distracted by outside circumstances. Most often, we get off track because the definition we attribute to God is one of “angry God”, vindictive God” and “holding a grudge God”. We even believe we are the ones responsible to do the work of God! As a result of this type of thinking, we get off track because someone has caused us pain and we feel the need to “give them a piece of my mind!”
For you see…all the good stuff we’re made of, is on the inside. The ability to love, to forgive, to not be judgmental, to show patience all starts with an emotional leap. However, it is not just an emotional leap, but a value-based leap. Most of us are quick to allow our emotions to get the better of us. We are challenged daily to not allow the driver that jumped in front of us, who purposefully got out of bed to irritate us, ruin our day.
In The Heat Of The Moment!
We get distracted because we want to feel good about our life and our day. When something interrupts that desire to feel good, we react. The reaction is instantaneous. We allow our displeasure to dictate our response. We scream and raise our fists to heaven letting the person responsible for our displeasure know they’ve angered the wrong person! We each start off with the tools to live above the storms of life. We are loving, kind, talented and thoughtful people. We have the innate capacity to create miracles in our life and in the lives of others. This ability to transform the world in a positive manner stems from the energy of love within us. Our innate drive is to create beauty and positively impact the lives of others.
However, we have an ego! Our ego convinces us at times that we must protect our pride by destroying others through intimidation, manipulation, coercion, and sometimes physical confrontation!
Let’s Go Fishing!
Life happens! We don’t always enjoy the “happening” that life presents. Yet, embedded in the happening of life, we have a choice on how we will respond to the “happening”. Stephen Covey in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People”, says there is always the gap between the stimulus and the response. That gap represents time. Time to consider the response. That element of time is impacted by the principles we adhere to. In the movie “Karate Kid”, when the thugs trashed the workshop of Mr. Miyagi, Daniel was incensed! He wanted to return in kind what had been done to them. He became more irritated with Mr. Miyagi, when Miyagi wanted to go fishing. He didn’t understand that Mr. Miyagi knew that making knee jerk reactions resulted in getting unwanted consequences.
How To Stay Calm!
Having a strong standard to stand upon helps to prevent rash decisions and behaviors from complicating our lives more. The aftermath of “giving someone a piece of your mind”, doesn’t always end well for the giver! In the heat of the moment, we often say and do things that we later regret. This happens because at the time it seemed like the most rewarding thing to do! The key phrase is “at the time”. Generally, if we give ourselves a little time to consider our response, we might find better and more affirming responses. The remorse we feel after the screaming match comes from the knowing that this behavior isn’t really me! Knowing who we really are and the values we hold as important foundational truths, determine how we respond to the challenges life throws our way!
Mental Clutter Leads To Stress-Frustration-Rash Decisions!
Abraham Maslow taught us how there were basic needs that each of us must have met. One of those needs is self-actualization. Learning about me helps me to live a more fulfilled life. I am able to be more compassionate with myself and others. No one is perfect. Learn to forgive yourself faster each day for the stumbles you and the people you meet daily, make. De-clutter your mind! Meditation is a proven method to de-clutter your mind and your life. You can find more information through this link. It only takes a few minutes a day, but the benefits are life giving! This simple practice will aid in releasing old patterns of behavior and beliefs. “De-cluttering” will lead to a life of “de-stressfulness!”