EMOTIONAL EXERCISE 3

I hate it when I get it all wrong. Sometimes I think I’ve read all the signs correctly, fit all the pieces together, interpreted the tea leaves, but I still draw the wrong conclusions.

It’s especially worse when I confront someone with my folly. It just leaves me feeling exposed and both of us feeling awkward.

I sit back, shake my head, and wonder where I got derailed. Was I that unaware of the situation to mosey out into left field and leave my brain laying there baking in the sun, like a cow pie in a pasture?

It may take a while, but every time it happens, I end up with the same realization. I let my emotions run wild and turned my conscious thought over to them.

These runaway emotions process cause and effect scenarios with vehemence. It’s almost like a computer running a Monte Carlo simulation on a hypothetical situation. The problem with any mathematical model is that it relies exclusively on the assumptions made to set it up. If the assumptions going in are flawed, then the modeled results coming out are in error.

Turning over control of the conscious mind to emotions shuts down the link to the subconscious. It’s in the subconscious where true creativity takes place. This is where seemingly random events link together in ways that form a true and cohesive picture of reality.

This is the area where Einstein pieced together relativity. Rembrandt translated swirling colors in the subconscious into photograph-clear images laid upon canvas. This is the area where Bach plucked random sounds and transcribed them into dots upon sheets of music to amaze the world for centuries after his death.

Keeping the link between the conscious and subconscious open is paramount in breaking free from the mundane mechanics of life to create divine spaces of living. Anything blocking that pathway holds us captive in the fears inherent in daily existence.

Emotions are a dual-edged sword. They cut through boredom, allowing us to open up and experience great passion. Yet, passion has its own duality. Joy and despair occupy opposite ends in the spectrum of passion. They are both necessary to fully appreciate the human condition. But the spectra residing closer to the despair-end impairs our ability to utilize the depth of our subconscious in creating opportunity.

How do we learn when to use emotions to benefit us and when to leave them alone? Trial and error is the only true teacher I know. Exercising our emotions, exploring their nuances, building, tearing down and rebuilding, like working with a Lego® set, is the only way I know how to gain enough experience to attempt mastery.

I don’t think mastery means overcoming emotions. Mastery involves learning to recover from emotional swings. I do think we can coexist with emotions. This happens by accepting their validity and allowing them to surface, without chastising ourselves for their occurrence. Learning to forgive ourselves and others for succumbing to emotions also helps in coexisting with emotions. We all experience them, both positively and negatively, so how can we hold up a measuring stick to compare others against?

I don’t claim mastery. Otherwise I wouldn’t let my emotions kidnap my conscious mind. But I keep trying honestly to exercise my emotions and gain more experience.

So, if I do get it all wrong, please forgive me. I promise I will forgive you when you get it all wrong.

If you're enjoying this over coffee, tea, or whatever, please consider buying me a cup!