Are our emotions the results of circumstance, or our interpretation of said circumstance? (And, does this mimic our nerve system stress response?)
Yesterday was one of those days. I got started early, ran through my morning ritual of meditation and reflection. Then, everything seemed to go “wrong”. I left the house on time, however arrived 10 minutes late to my first appointment, so I skipped breakfast. This appointment ended on time, however I had no time to eat before my next appointment which was further away than I thought. Therefore, the second appointment I also arrived late. This time I was also 10 minutes late, so I decided to take the stairs instead of the tram. The stairs to this appointment were wet, which I saw, however were made of metal that was cut to provide traction. (Not enough traction it would seem)
So there I was sliding into my meeting, down 4-5 steps (the exact amount undetermined due to embarrassment). What made the fall significant (AKA bloody) is that the exact feature of the stairs that was suppose to provide grip to my shoes….provided grip to my skin. In retrospect, had I not been stopped with skin gripping metal spikes to my body, I would have slid about 50 feet to a concrete platform. So, maybe the bloody grip worked out in the end!
The meeting was about as expected…it was just a meeting for formality sake, and then I proceeded to find some food. As I took the tram past those dreadful stairs, I decided to check the weather report. You see, the day prior, I had decided that if I was going to go to a meeting that would most likely be boring, I would at least make it fun by driving my motorcycle to the meeting. So, as I ride the tram, I check the weather. Sure enough, the report stated rain was barreling toward my path to head home. (I forgot to mention that we are in a drought right now, so I had no expectation of this issue surfacing)
There I stood, looking at the area where skin was removed from my arm, fingers, and hip….contemplating the opportunity to beat the storm as long as I left right away. In a rush, I continued my stressful day to the next arrival point, hungry.
I did manage to get home without a major weather delay, and proceeded to make breakfast for lunch. Guess I figured I would just start over.
Sure, the day did not go well. I had a fall, was late twice, and did not eat till lunch time. However, I would bet that there were worse events that happened on that day, to other people. Someone lost a job, someone lost a loved one, someone lost a limb that day. Someone did not eat at all yesterday, and I am sure that someone had to walk to try to find a job, and came up empty.
There are constantly stresses in this world. The question that I asked at the beginning of this blog I’ll repeat again:
Are our emotions the results of circumstance, or our interpretation of said circumstance?
My circumstance was not ideal, however my interpretation was more out of context. I was angry, agitated and mad by lunch time. My mind simply did not adapt to the stressors I encountered. Once I realized that my day was really not that bad. That it was just a morning and I was now enjoying eggs and imported coffee. I was able to catch my emotions, put life into perspective and move on.