Pirouetting on the head
We are given the breadth of the act of making choices. I do not mean the choice to select a Gucci handbag over a vintage bargain. This is a choice hedged in by economic constraints. It is not about true choice because it does not begin on level playing ground. In the end I may realise that neither a designer acquisition nor a dated steal is what I need. The real choice could be just deciding to dispense off the thought of spending. Choices become not a split between wants but a knowledge of needs over desires.
There are choices which upon making, clothes us in what we want to be identified with.
Excuses in the guise of calculated decisions aside; what we take for granted as natural choices which have to be made in life, are not as natural as we think they are. Two analogies put across over the past week has given me room for contemplation. Whether I remain in this room, or walk new paths in search of seemingly more comfortable accommodation, is all truly a matter of choice.
Tim shared his thoughts on feelings in response to the question 'Are we not how we feel?'
He reached out and touched Richard. I am feeling Richard but I am not Richard. Likewise let us imagine there is a dark, dirty troll in front of me. I am feeling him with both my hands. The more I touch the dirtier I get. Let us call our troll Mr Depressed. The more I feel him the more depressed I think I am, seeing my hands get soiled by his filth. I feel Depressed but I am not Depressed. We identify ourselves not with our emotions because emotions come and go. They will come and yes we are created to feel angry, happy, upset, irritated, peaceful. However the more we think we feel angry we gradually believe we are angry. Thinking on such things lead to an acting on them. Do we want others to identify us with emotions? Do we align ourselves according to the state of emotion/s we are in?
I am reading Max Lucardo's A Love Worth Living. He writes beautifully. When I arrived at this passage towards the middle of the book, my mind started making some connections. I'll quote in full.
Some folks don't know we have an option. To liten to our vocabulary you'd think we are the victims of our thoughts. "Don't talk to me," we say. "I'm in a bad mood." As if a mood were a place to which we were assigned ("I can't call you. I'm in Bosnia.") rather than an emotion we permit. Or we say, "Don't mess with her. She has a bad disposition." Is a disposition something we have? Like a cold or the flu? Are we the victims of the emotional bacteria of the season? Or do we have a choice?
People can advice you against being trapped in the throes of anger or depression or attempt to help pull you out of damaging states of emotional being. I may be generalising and that I fully acknowledge. However we are still given the choice to seek the strength to step out of these states we, more than often, so willingly succumb ourselves to.
Just like He gave us the freedom to choose, we can align our choices next to His desires and plans for us; that in the end it is not a choice between emotions which characterises us but a choice to let our identity be found in Him.
We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
He does not compels us to. We may not be able to stop the emotions from flowing but we can manage how we handle them. Our identity can be more stable than the pirouettes from mind to heart and to mind again, which emotions take us through.
There are choices which upon making, clothes us in what we want to be identified with.
Excuses in the guise of calculated decisions aside; what we take for granted as natural choices which have to be made in life, are not as natural as we think they are. Two analogies put across over the past week has given me room for contemplation. Whether I remain in this room, or walk new paths in search of seemingly more comfortable accommodation, is all truly a matter of choice.
Tim shared his thoughts on feelings in response to the question 'Are we not how we feel?'
He reached out and touched Richard. I am feeling Richard but I am not Richard. Likewise let us imagine there is a dark, dirty troll in front of me. I am feeling him with both my hands. The more I touch the dirtier I get. Let us call our troll Mr Depressed. The more I feel him the more depressed I think I am, seeing my hands get soiled by his filth. I feel Depressed but I am not Depressed. We identify ourselves not with our emotions because emotions come and go. They will come and yes we are created to feel angry, happy, upset, irritated, peaceful. However the more we think we feel angry we gradually believe we are angry. Thinking on such things lead to an acting on them. Do we want others to identify us with emotions? Do we align ourselves according to the state of emotion/s we are in?
I am reading Max Lucardo's A Love Worth Living. He writes beautifully. When I arrived at this passage towards the middle of the book, my mind started making some connections. I'll quote in full.
Some folks don't know we have an option. To liten to our vocabulary you'd think we are the victims of our thoughts. "Don't talk to me," we say. "I'm in a bad mood." As if a mood were a place to which we were assigned ("I can't call you. I'm in Bosnia.") rather than an emotion we permit. Or we say, "Don't mess with her. She has a bad disposition." Is a disposition something we have? Like a cold or the flu? Are we the victims of the emotional bacteria of the season? Or do we have a choice?
People can advice you against being trapped in the throes of anger or depression or attempt to help pull you out of damaging states of emotional being. I may be generalising and that I fully acknowledge. However we are still given the choice to seek the strength to step out of these states we, more than often, so willingly succumb ourselves to.
Just like He gave us the freedom to choose, we can align our choices next to His desires and plans for us; that in the end it is not a choice between emotions which characterises us but a choice to let our identity be found in Him.
We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
He does not compels us to. We may not be able to stop the emotions from flowing but we can manage how we handle them. Our identity can be more stable than the pirouettes from mind to heart and to mind again, which emotions take us through.
