Yesterday morning, I had an all out war with tech
devices. By the last one, I was so agitated that I could have easily justified staying mad all day.
First, I wanted to take my granddaughter’s temperature, but our brand new forehead thermometer would not work properly. I
got out the directions, but still could not get it to show her temperature despite fifteen minutes of pressing all the right buttons. I noticed I was feeling more frustrated than what the situation warranted. That told me something else was going on with me, so I took myself for a walk to address my elevated level of irritation.
Shortly into my walk, I attempted to use music as part of my self-soothing solution. Unfortunately the music player on my phone kept switching from faith-based music to random rap or rock, and then suddenly became silent, as it somehow switched to the speaker in our kitchen instead of playing through my ear buds. I would reset the output for my phone, only to have the rap music resume,
then go silent again and apparently play in my kitchen.
This cycle happened over and over for no good reason that I ever figured out. Instead of my walk calming me, I was getting even madder, which I knew was
irrational, but that didn't change anything. After circling the block, I went back inside our home and unplugged Alexa to teach her a lesson. (Who else has corrected or even yelled at Alexa?)
Back on my walk, my husband texted to ask me to send him some photos right away. I tried, but kept getting an error code, failure to deliver. Long story short, after recreating the text with photos four times, I was finally able to send them. I turned off my phone for the rest of my walk
and doubled my efforts to restore my peace of mind.
All of this may sound like small stuff, but my disproportionate irritability was a big clue that I was off balance. I didn’t get adequate sleep the previous night, which
put me at a disadvantage for facing life without my normal #findingthegift perspective.
Sleep is critical for our emotional stabilization, as is regular exercise and good nutrition. A long holiday weekend can
destabilize us if one or more of those elements aren’t satisfactorily maintained. Holidays can make our need for self care even greater than usual.
Thankfully, we never have to stay off kilter regardless of what's
causing us emotional disruption. We can take emergency measures to restore ourselves physically, emotionally, and mentally. But we have to first notice that we're out of sorts.
All the technical challenges showed me that
I needed my go-to rescue remedies if I wanted to enjoy the rest of the day and be pleasant company. I needed a walk, prayer, meditation, to stop and smell a magnolia, to tune into the birds singing, to enjoy the beauty of the flowers I passed as I walked. I needed to breathe deep and do positive self talk, such as:
- It’s a beautiful
day.
- I am blessed and highly favored.
- I’m excited about going swimming today.
- I’m grateful that our home construction has begun again.
- I’m grateful for my family.
- I’m grateful for the good health of beloved family members.
- I’m grateful for the hope I have about broken relationships being restored.
- I’m grateful we have everything we truly need.
- I’m grateful I get to do what I love to
contribute to my family’s finances.
- I’m grateful for friends and colleagues who share the journey with me.
- I’m grateful for God’s surprises and provision for me every day, especially the unexpected ones, and even the small ones like sunshine, favor with stoplights, and close parking places.
With diligent pursuit, I finally found my calm. I do confess, however, that I had to keep working on it. Some days are just more challenging than others, but we never have to resign ourselves to unruly emotions. We always have options.
Happy Independence
Day! Although our country has significant challenges right now, we are blessed in many ways with abundant freedom that other nations do not enjoy. I’m thankful to those who fought for, and even gave their lives for our many freedoms and to the founding fathers of our country for their courage, wisdom and discernment.
As we celebrate with friends and family during this holiday, let’s notice when our reactions to things may be out of proportion to what may have disturbed us. Let’s remember it is within our power to choose peace and practice our own remedies to help ourselves restore inner balance, so that we can be loving, kind and of service to others. Have a safe and joyful celebration!
