The Other 167 Hours

life outside the session

Archive for the tag “Emotion”

Marriage: A Three-Ring Circus

The Circus, by Georges Seurat, painted 1891. O...
Image via Wikipedia

I love the circus, especially the large three-ring circus where there are always at least three shows happening at once. If you love the circus and want to know more about its interesting history and role in popular culture

this blog post will be of no help at all with that.

On the other hand, I have some thoughts about work and responsibility in marriage. These seem to organize themselves rather nicely into three areas  or circles of responsibility.

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Emotional Basic Training: Emotional Self-awareness

Hearing, sight, taste, touch, smell

What would life be like if we only had those 5 senses?

Reading glasses

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What about balance and proprioception?
If I closed my eyes I wouldn’t know if I were right-side up or up-side down. I wouldn’t know where my arms and legs were without looking.

What about… emotional self-awareness? I wouldn’t know how I felt about you or how I felt about me. I would have a very difficult time making decisions. (Yes, emotions are essential for making many decisions no matter how logical you think you are. Logic is always in the service of some emotion. ) I wouldn’t feel attached to anything or anybody so I wouldn’t feel loss. I also wouldn’t know if I belonged.

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Whatever is true

Walberberg
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Do you know that verse in Philippians, chapter 4? The one that tells us what to think about?

Here’s the whole verse:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

Lately, I’ve been realizing how important it is to read beyond the “whatever is true” phrase. “True” is not the only criteria. There’s also noble, right, pure, lovely, etc.. That’s helpful because there are SO MANY things that are true and we need to pick from among them, since our attention and mental desktop are limited resources.

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Anger: Part of the healing process?

A reader asked a question in response to an earlier post and I think the question is important enough to warrant its own post.

Question:

I understand that those types of anger should not happen… but I think that expressing anger is healthy, doing it the right way… Anger is part of the healing process, is it not?

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Anger Management: Beyond the Phone Booth

Angry man
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In a previous post I explained that “just letting it out” is not a reliable way to manage anger. I want to continue here with more about anger.

Our emotions offer behavioral suggestions and prepare our body to carry out those behaviors. Anger suggests to us that we actively defend ourselves against some perceived threat. Apparently it’s been rather common throughout the ages to be vulnerable to sin in the midst of that active defending. Paul warned the Ephesians (4:26) about it almost 2,000 years ago. So, our angry behavior may be just plain wrong, even though motivated, in part, by a drive to defend ourselves.

How could that happen? I think much of our mistaken angry responses fit one of the following patterns.

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Anger Management: How many people can fit in a phone booth?

Two people in a heated argument about religion...
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We have all heard anger talked about as if it were people stuffing into a phone booth. It gets more and more uncomfortable and the only way to make it better is to let some out. Get it off your chest. Don’t stuff it down. Let off some steam. Many think of anger management within a pressure-release model. I would like to convince you otherwise.

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Managing Stress at Work for Medical Staff

I think the first of the year is prime time for work frustration and dissatisfaction. People are trying to get used to the idea of going back to work after the holidays, or still resenting the fact that they didn’t get time off over the holidays. There are stresses built into systems and organizations where we work, and  there are individual vulnerabilities inside each of us. Improvements in either of these areas can make a huge difference in how we experience work.

The performance of medical staff, for example, seems to improve as the staff are able to address a few basic emotional questions. I want to discuss those questions here. Maybe I can focus on other occupations in future posts.

I want to point out that when I call them “basic” questions, I mean that they are important, universal, and foundational, not necessarily easy or trivial.

What right do I have to be here?

The “impostor syndrome” is that feeling  that if other people only knew my faults like I did, I would be “found out” and have to leave. What do I do about the fact that I have faults and short-comings, even bad habits? When taken together as a whole picture, warts and all, am I still acceptable, even valuable here? Or am I  just lucky no one has noticed yet? If I have settled this question, I can be properly assertive and focus on the task at hand instead of being anxious.

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Taking Turns: Do we ever really learn?

In a world without peers, or equals, there would never be a problem with taking turns. If someone has a higher status than you, of course they would go first and you would go next, if at all. If you have a higher status, then you never have to wait for others, right? Everything’s fine. No confusion. No problem. Everyone knows who goes first at the intersection, who steps aside when you meet in a hallway, who enters the door first.

Wedding
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But what if there is another? An equal, a peer, a spouse? What if we each have strong opinions and emotions that we need to understand and communicate (not necessarily in that order.) Let’s add into the mix a fear I have that I will never get a turn if you go first. What if what you say only makes what I have to say more urgent? What if it has to be solved now? What if there is no time to waste, because these emotions are so uncomfortable that I can’t imagine just containing them for another day or so. Read more…

At least believe me!

When someone close tells us something that evokes uncomfortable feelings, it can be very easy to convey “that just couldn’t be!” Now, if they have told you that a conspiracy is underway to personally target your trash bags so that they always rip open just as you are taking them across the carpet, then… okay. But when your spouse is telling you something about herself, for example, how disappointed she was that you didn’t notice her new hair style… no.

That can’t be! You knew how tired I was last night. That’s crazy!” or a similar statement by you, could almost be misconstrued to be saying that what she said  is crazy and couldn’t be true.. to the casual observer.

As this type of interaction is repeated over time, your spouse will feel the frustration of not being believed. Then the ground is all prepared for resentment, confusion, or an emotional cut off. Read more…

Life by the Slice

Biting off more than you can chew can be messy and embarrassing and certainly takes some of the joy out of eating. There is one built-in limit that partially protects us from taking a bite too big:  we can only open our mouths so wide. I wouldn’t advise letting that be your only guide, but for the sake of children everywhere I’m glad we at least have that. And, since almost all of us have learned the lesson early in life we should feel free to apply it wherever it may be helpful… figuratively, I mean.

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