Your Emotions: Are you watching them?
You'll often hear don Miguel Ruiz, author of "The Four
Agreements," saying that our emotions are the key to our
personal freedom. Wise words! You might be asking why our
emotions are so important to our freedom. I've observed in my
many years of teaching, how often folks don't acknowledge what
they're feeling emotionally. When I ask them how they're feeling
they say, "Things are fine," or "The usual." Yet, when you ask
them if they got upset or frustrated today, they'll say, "Well
yes, this morning with my husband," or "When the dishwasher
repair man came to the house," or "When something was not typed
correctly my secretary." So what's going on here? Why are we
ignoring the most important tool that we have for our personal
growth?
Multiple opportunities present themselves to us daily to grow
and learn, yet we're too asleep to see our emotional reactions
for what they are. If you're not aware of when you're having a
fear-based emotional reaction, you're allowing your personal
power and happiness to drain away from you without even
realizing it! A warrior lives by challenge; meaning he perceives
everything as an opportunity to learn. Whether he's observing
the way he talks to himself when he's waiting on line in the
grocery store or sitting on the toilet with constipation - it
doesn't matter where the opportunity comes from, a challenge is
a challenge! We can learn as much from the way we victimize
ourselves on the toilet when we're constipated as we can during
an argument with our partner. We can only shift and change
within the context of our challenges, not just by reading books
and attending workshops. Yes, we can have "ah-ha's," learn tools
and techniques, meet new friends, and adopt a belief system that
is kinder to us than the one we currently have. But what really
makes the difference is what action we take to make those
insights become practical applications.
I encourage you to take advantage of all that life is gifting
you in every moment. Stop throwing away these opportunities
simply because you choose non-awareness over personal freedom.
If you chose to see your emotional reactions to frustrating
events as opportunities for transformation, rather than
believing that "s-t happens," your life will change.
Take a moment right now to think about how you perceive the
events of your life. Do you see challenges as inconveniences? If
you do, this could be a great time to shift your point of view.
(Remember - the way we perceive our lives is a choice and
everything is just a point of view!)
There's one thing I know for sure about this reality. "S-t"
never happens to us, we're not victims; let's break that belief
right now! Life works on the basis of action-reaction. So take
action right now based on clarity, rather than your programmed
reactions and you'll be on your way to a blissful life,
experiencing joyful emotions rather than fear-based ones.