Looking Out My Back Window #188

Originally posted on Facebook HERE

Photo from earlier today with the lamp reflection in the window as the sun was coming up. I love mornings. It’s quiet here, I start every day with a lot of reflection – writing, reading, meditating. Today I was thinking a lot about what life is, and how we all search for happiness in our own ways. And it got me thinking about emotions, and who’s really in control there. It’s pretty much impossible to just be happy all the time. On the day your pet dies, or you lose a loved one – sadness and grief will probably be overwhelming you. What if you find out someone you love has betrayed you? I doubt your first emotion would be happiness. I’m very quick to every emotion myself. Joy, fear, anger, love, sadness, embarrassment, empathy, guilt, whatever it is… I’m pretty easy to read I think. The emotion hits me so strong I can’t hide it, whatever it is. I’m totally ok with that, I know this about myself. I just wish I wasn’t so quick to anger and/or frustration at times. But whatever the emotion is, when I’m in the moment – I’m feeling it. Big time. So, how much control does that really give us? I know people who don’t seem to have any emotions. No matter what’s going on, they just seem the same – these are very hard people to read. You never know what’s going on there. Personally, I prefer the emotional roller coaster. But is there a way to just be calm and happy inside no matter what the forces are outside you that stir those emotions up? I think I’ve only seen this in extremely spiritual people. And, is that any better than just dealing with the swaying emotions we have as we go though life as we feel them? I don’t know. Pretty sure we weren’t all meant to be monks. When we get too caught up in emotions, though – especially the negative ones, our minds can start to fester. We start looking for revenge. We want to figure out a way to get even, or hurt someone the way they hurt you. Negative emotions left unchecked can control our thought patterns and change everything for the worse. I think maybe here is where we start having a choice. We can choose to move on and not let them fester. To chalk it up to a learning experience. To find a way that whatever bad thing has happened, be grateful for something – when you lose something or someone you love, it’s so tough. But really, what a gift for having had that special person or thing in your life at all, right? And as life moves forward after having lost like that – you don’t take quite as much for granted anymore, either. So your current moments become more appreciated as well. And you can wear that lost loved one in your memories as a constant guardian to be as happy and loving going forward as possible. Because, isn’t that what we all want for the people we’re going to leave behind some day? We can’t control our emotions all the time as we go through our lives, but we can control our overall outlooks and in the long run, see things in a way that serves us rather than tearing us down into anxiety and despair. We all have periods of time where our minds aren’t doing well, when everything seems disjointed, and we’re sad, lonely, depressed, etc… but with a little practice over time, we can learn to have a positive outlook that eventually slows down how often we have times like that, and the debilitating effects they can have on our lives…