Emotion's place in life's journey

Ups and downs, hills and valleys, a song that has a range that summons tears; and, if it's classic, the memory of the notes, the harmony, the mood and the message, endurably lives on.

A good analogy for life: all its parts, complicated, simple, thick and thin, deeper depths of living as we age, some of us make it to the status of memorable.

We are like songs. We carry our melodies, and hope we can blend in those pieces that come to us unbidden...grab a friend, create a new and different composition. We feel our emotions leave their stamps on us. Emotions are our ego's expression of those energies attracted by our "doings" in the world. We do, we feel the repercussions, an emotion is associated, and we express it. Song, dance, visual manipulation, writing, are for us to emote with in a way others can share the feeling of our experience or emotion.

We humans, as a common species, tend to be universal; and therefore, commonly understand certain things. For example, all of us have emotions. Even the so-called emotionless sociopath, experiences something that triggers his or her behaviors.

There probably aren't many "new" emotions, but there are new ways of thinking about emotions that have been around since our caveman days. That is to be aware of the emotion, aware of the trigger, and then take control of it. Use as much emotion as you need to, but properly place it to work for you, not against you. I also have to remember that exercising a choice that is preferable for me, is not going to please anyone necessarily, nor are many people going to even notice anyway. I am truly free to exercise choices with the understanding that I also must deal with the consequences, intended or not.

My emotion today came from anger at a verbal response to my own question, at which I took offense. I think my anger was righteous anger, and I think it was mild anger, appropriate to the situation. I did not show my anger. I simply left the room when I had decided that I would not sit and be miserable for two hours in an overheated room.

I could not control the room temperature because a woman had made herself in charge of room temperature. She presumed to speak out for the entire roomful of people who were all "cold." I was sweating.

I feel righteous in defending myself or protecting myself from this controlling force. I can control me, so I decided to excuse myself from a class that was important to me in order to stay in control of my own comfort zone; and in order not to let this lady have satisfaction of determining that I would be physically uncomfortable in an un-airconditioned room for two hours with the temperature 94 degrees outside.

I feel better for having made the decision to control my comfort, but with that decision came the decision to give up any learning that might have taken place. I don't think there was a right or wrong choice, just a choice and a repercussion. Cause & effect. So it was my choice to miss class in order to stick up for myself, control my comfort; and, not let this woman know I was going to sit there miserable because of HER choice.

This was also healthy for me so that I would not sit there and become more angry as my temperature rose. No resentment.

And so each emotional path we choose, and length we allow it to travel, the low or the high road we take, the means by which we will travel, allow us the power we need to write our lives. We can create harmonic compositions and change the moods as we experience the days. Eventually we will see the exquisite blend of high notes, low notes, and all the refrains running through the sophisticated symphony we have made.

Comments welcome