I have some advice. When you download a free sample of a book onto your Kindle, and the sample messes with your head, you should definitely buy the full book. So you can have your head messed with quite thoroughly. And while you're at it, make sure you purchase the list of books the author mentions messed with their head before they wrote the book.
So I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and mostly it's making me feel edgier and more irritable. I've felt this way for awhile, but I've had a hard time putting my finger on the cause of it. Reading these books seems to be giving me some clarity. Not making me feel better.
I've come to the conclusion that I have structured my life in a way that says, "Sure God. I'm all in." But I haven't managed to structure my heart to match. Consequently I have a lot of tension, internally. It tends to come out externally, and it's often not pretty.
I've further come to the conclusion that I do not need to change a ton of externals in my life. I need to have an internal overhaul. I'm not really sure what that looks like. I'm not totally sure how that's done. Organizing and changing externals has always been my strong suit. Give me a closet that needs cleaning, or a budget that needs overhauling, and I'm off and running. Give me a heart to change, and I'm a very slow mover.
Emotions are a biggie. There's a lot of stuff in my life right now, that feels horrible. Not that the life itself is horrible, or even that the emotions aren't reasonable, authentic, appropriate. But my solution for a very long time, is to ignore the "big feelings" (as we like to say) and just get on with the work at hand.
And sometimes this works very well. The work at hand kind of drags the emotions along like an unwilling child, and gets them to where they need to be. Sometimes this is exactly what we need to do.
But I am utterly exhausted from dragging my unwilling self around. My unwilling self is like a miserable toddler dangling limply from the end of my arm, and I, the Mom, suddenly realize this child needs sleep, or food, or eye contact. I realize that the child is not just being fractious, getting in the way of my work. The child is actually only trying to communicate their need the only way they know how.
So how does one deal with emotions that just won't be pacified? How does one figure out what they are trying to say when they have no words? Why are they here all of a sudden, and what am I to do with them? Are they useful, truthful....traitorous? I eye them suspiciously, sure they're up to no good. Quite honestly, I don't trust them. They've lied to me before. They've led me down the garden path a time or two.
But then again, they are part of our human experience, and not necessarily good or evil. Nearly everything we experience has some bit of emotion clinging to it, from the moment we rise from our bed in the morning, to the moment we fall back into it at night. Honestly I have emotions about my bed. Is it wrong to feel affectionate toward a certain pair of Laura Ashley flannel sheets?
Are you waiting for me to wrap this up with some sort of conclusion that makes sense? Something that says, "I've wrestled with this and gotten to the other side. Now I would like to share my new found wisdom." I'm so sorry that you have hung on so nicely, to simply find out that I am still paddling in the same circle. Really. The only good advice I have is in the first paragraph of this post. But I'll be happy to give you a reading list if you're feeling bored with your life right now.
Emotions are a biggie. There's a lot of stuff in my life right now, that feels horrible. Not that the life itself is horrible, or even that the emotions aren't reasonable, authentic, appropriate. But my solution for a very long time, is to ignore the "big feelings" (as we like to say) and just get on with the work at hand.
And sometimes this works very well. The work at hand kind of drags the emotions along like an unwilling child, and gets them to where they need to be. Sometimes this is exactly what we need to do.
But I am utterly exhausted from dragging my unwilling self around. My unwilling self is like a miserable toddler dangling limply from the end of my arm, and I, the Mom, suddenly realize this child needs sleep, or food, or eye contact. I realize that the child is not just being fractious, getting in the way of my work. The child is actually only trying to communicate their need the only way they know how.
So how does one deal with emotions that just won't be pacified? How does one figure out what they are trying to say when they have no words? Why are they here all of a sudden, and what am I to do with them? Are they useful, truthful....traitorous? I eye them suspiciously, sure they're up to no good. Quite honestly, I don't trust them. They've lied to me before. They've led me down the garden path a time or two.
But then again, they are part of our human experience, and not necessarily good or evil. Nearly everything we experience has some bit of emotion clinging to it, from the moment we rise from our bed in the morning, to the moment we fall back into it at night. Honestly I have emotions about my bed. Is it wrong to feel affectionate toward a certain pair of Laura Ashley flannel sheets?
Are you waiting for me to wrap this up with some sort of conclusion that makes sense? Something that says, "I've wrestled with this and gotten to the other side. Now I would like to share my new found wisdom." I'm so sorry that you have hung on so nicely, to simply find out that I am still paddling in the same circle. Really. The only good advice I have is in the first paragraph of this post. But I'll be happy to give you a reading list if you're feeling bored with your life right now.
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