Emotions, you're in my way!

We've all thought it at one time or another.  "I wish I could just turn off my feelings." The reality is, feelings are part of who we are, our soul is our mind, our will and our emotion.  Without 'emotion' we would simply live mechanically in 'motion' without thought or care about anyone else.

Controlling our feelings is the greatest challenge.   Outside sources influence our decisions and choices (our will), feelings (our emotions) and the way we think. I don't want to live like a controlled robot without feelings.  Imagine going through life without empathy, sympathy, kindness, gentleness, love, sacrificial giving, self-control. 

We say cruel things that hurt one another's feelings.  I, myself, have deep emotional channels running to the core of my heart.   I use to be so concerned about hurting someone's feelings that I would not be honest and truthful with them or myself.  However, as I have lived 56 years I run into the people that don't hold back and don't worry one second whether they hurt my feelings or not.  I think, wow -- how freeing is it to just speak the truth honestly without worry that someone's feelings might be hurt.  Then I think about the scripture that talks about speaking the truth in love.  What does that mean? 

Love does have a part to play in this.  Love is controlling your feelings isn't it.  I don't want to hurt my fellow man so I hold back.  I use diplomacy and tact in how I say things. 

The tongue is like a rudder on a ship that directs its course.  Speaking whatever comes to mind is not wise.  Weigh what you say, consider it before speaking it.  The Bible is full of scriptures about guarding your mouth, refraining from speaking evil, speak only words to encourage and love others.  And the Bible says if you can control your tongue you are perfect but it also says no man can control his tongue.  This leads me to believe that only the Holy Spirit of God can empower you to control your tongue.  He warns us and if we heed the warning, we will not say things.  He teaches us by showing us how badly it hurt when someone spoke ill of us or to us in a demeaning manner.

The fear of confrontation keeps me from speaking -- I don't know how to speak up and say 'I don't like when you do such and such.  or  "When you say or do such and such, I feel...."

That is called being assertive.  I need training how to be assertive.   Assertive people get ahead. They tell people what they think, request the resources they need, ask for raises, and don't take no for an answer.

Meanwhile, I still have to deal with my feelings.  I have to be in control of how I feel.  As I said before 'your feelings are often influenced by outside sources'.  So what or who do you listen to?  Who do you hang with?  What do you watch?  What do you read?

My Bucket List

1. Take a romantic luxury cruise to the Carribean
2. Go sailing
3. Organize all my photos and label them for my kids to have one day
4. Learn to water ski 
5. Become an interior decorator/staging 
6. Help less fortunate with their housing -- free decorating and staging
7. Spend  time with my aunt Bonnie, Retabess and Patsy
8. Trace my genealogy family tree
9. A day at the Spa
10. Visit the graves of my mother, father and brothers
11. Pay off all debts being completely debt-free
12. Lead a minimum of 200 people to Jesus
13. Spend an entire day in my pyjamas working on my computer
14. Take watercolor lessons
15. Lose 100 lbs and experience the benefit of a healthy body 
16. Spend weekends with my grandchildren - I want to be the best loved and remembered grandmother ever!!!  Get close and develop a relationship specifically with my granddaughter Chloe.
17. See the top things to do and see in New York!
18. The Statue of Liberty  and Ellis Island!  The Statue of Liberty's face was said to be modeled after the sculptor's mother, Charlotte. This colossal statuary follows design going back to ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.
19. Empire State Building
20. Grand Central Station
21. Ice skate at Christmas time in Rockefeller Centre
22. View the harbor on the Staten Island Ferry
23. American Museum of Natural History and Metropolitan Museum of Art
24. Walk through Central Park
25. Metropolitan Museum of Art
26. Write my auto-biography just for the pleasure of doing it and leaving history to my kids
27. Write and publish a children's book
28. Create an original oilpaint
29. Create a "life scrapbook" for both of my children with photos and stories to leave for them
30. Make a difference in someone's life
31. Spend a day at the (ocean) beach, walking barefoot along the beach at the ocean s
32. Travel across the United States and Canada in a motor home - tour through
33. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario
34. Explore the Australian Outback and hike Ayres Rock...Kangaroos & Dingos
35. Ayers Rock Resort (Outback Pioneer Hotel and Lodge)
36. See New Zealand where the Lord of the Rings was filmed
37. Ride a gondola in Venice, Italy
38. Visit an authentic castle in Scotland
39. Have a drink in an Irish pub in Ireland
40. Take a dogsled cross country in Alaska
41. Take a romantic luxury cruise to the Carribean and Jamaica
42. Take a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon and a raft ride through the Grand Canyon