Don't Let Your Feelings Drive!
If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.
Henry David Thoreau
How did Pete and I know we needed to change our early responses to the pandemic? Our FEELINGS! We were freaking out. Feelings examine our beliefs and how we live and apply them to situations, deciding which rule applies according to the situation.
As a rule, we thinking being good citizens means that we have a responsibility to keep up with the world around us. We are curious; we love to learn. But our feelings were saying to us, “Other rules apply also.” Rules like - what good does it do to know a bunch of stuff if you have a complete meltdown? How do we use what we learn wisely if we are sleep deprived? The feeling center helps add value to the “rules” by valuing the people for whom the laws are made. According to Kathleen Hurley and Theodore Dobson in their book My Best Self, our feeling center adds the language of love to our life, provides a voice for our soul, and gives us the capacity to be vulnerable.
Since we moderated some of our daily guidelines for living, we have developed a stamina that allows us to incorporate adding in hard things. Like living in a zoom lair some days so that our community can stay connected! I for one could not do this if I were still sleep-deprived, freaked out, and driven by my feelings.
These days we walk, 10’s of thousands of steps each week. We do not watch tv. We play board games and once everyone in our family stayed quarantined for a month, added our grandchildren back onto the list of daily visitors. We continue to listen to the scientists and do what is asked of us as citizens. We do not believe that everyone has gotten it all right, but we have calmed down enough to remember that we value supporting safety guidelines and caring about the more vulnerable among us. These are our choices; you may make other choices and that’s all good. But I am so grateful that our freak out alerted us to the need to hunker down and THINK about what we understand and act in a way that fits our values. This includes showing up for zoom calls even when neither of us have had a legit haircut in months.
You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.
Psalm 119:114
