It has been a while since my last blog. A long while. A very
long while, considering when I started this a couple of years ago, it was a
challenge to be my “Wesley-like” and keep up with the discipline of journaling.
It is what it is.
Just because I haven’t kept up doesn’t mean that nothing has
happened. Oh, trust me, as the saying goes, “life is what you make it”, and
I’ve got enough to feed an army!It is what it is.
I’ve started reading “Generation to Generation” by Edwin
Friedman. It’s for an 18-month course that I’m taking that is dealing
specifically with dealing with Family Systems Theory. It will probably be one
of the best courses I’ll ever take.
Something that has been brought up in Friedman’s book as
well as the course is how people become excited or anxious in particular situations,
and when they do, it causes other people to become just as excited in many
different ways. I’ve seen this SO MUCH on social media. Things like the recent
news in Georgia of a young man who went into a school intending not to hurt any
students or staff. Or the different drills around the country of how to deal
with particular situations.
Other situations poke their head up in similar situations… “my
problems are bigger than yours”, or “why does so-and-so have to keep everything
private”, or “this is what happened with me, so this is how it’s going to
happen to you”, or how someone has no concept about a person’s job, but will
dictate how that person needs to do their job.
I recently did an experiment with a group of people where I
sat in a room and said nothing. Absolutely nothing. For some of you, this may
seem impossible, and maybe even shocking, but really, I did it – said nothing.
Doing so, there was a noticeable rise in the anxiety level because a certain
group of people (let’s say, um, the “test subjects”), expected a reaction and
didn’t get any. The funny part was when I was later approached and asked if
there was a problem because all I did was smile the entire time.
… Did I have a problem because I was smiling? That will be a
chapter in my book someday.
The point is – sometimes our true happiness isn’t in the
issues around us, but in the happiness within us.
If we worry about ourselves instead of trying to stand on a pedestal, our insides will feel much nicer.
(and the higher you try to put yourself on a pedestal, the harder you’ll fall when someone easily knocks you down)
If we worry about ourselves instead of trying to stand on a pedestal, our insides will feel much nicer.
(and the higher you try to put yourself on a pedestal, the harder you’ll fall when someone easily knocks you down)
