Personal Meditation no. 173

“Saying you mirror your actions on the way another person treats you is to give others power over your actions. Which is to say you are enslaved to the actions of others. Why not be free?”

Embrace the Within.

I work with adolescents and this year is almost as challenging as my first year working in middle school nearly a decade ago. The problem in working with children and adolescents and adults and humans in general is the management of impulse control. You feel some feeling and then immediately react. About a decade ago I spent a lot of time simply reacting. Whether it was online, at home, at work . . . I lacked impulse control because of my situation. I allowed my situation at that point to dictate my response to everything I encountered. And for nearly half a decade after that, I was still a mess. It takes a long time to fix problem behaviors if you are committed to truly working on those behaviors and making a lasting change. The fourteen days was the next catalyst to move me in the correct path.

Anywho, now that I can address my impulse control and my reactions to everything as an assault on me, I can start to understand that I control my situation and that my situation does not control me. I had it twisted for some time as well. I thought that the situation dictated how I was going to act. I thought the situation was responsible for my choices. I allowed the situation to get control. I allowed the situation to enslave me.

I recently took back my power. And it has not been easy to not go around and simply react to everything. I mean there is a lot of influence to see that reacting and overreacting is a normal way of behaving. Folks feel empowered by media in being triggered and acting emotionally. Grown folks storm buildings and trash cities because of the way they feel and media encourages their infantile behavior. Folks elect childish politicians and media encourages the infantile behavior of these leaders of the folks. There is a lot of power being given away by folks just so they can return to childish behavior. It’s not easy to take back your power when all you see reinforced in the masses is a return to being a child.

BUT, I want to be an adult. Sure, laundry is a bother. That’s why I have less clothing. I made a conscious decision to have less during the fourteen days. It’s my slow crawl to retirement planning. I want to have less and I need to decide what is important. Taking back your power allows you to make those decisions. I don’t need another tie. I need far fewer. I don’t need another pair of dress pants. I need far fewer. I don’t need another dress shirt. I need much fewer. I don’t need another pair of shoes. I need far fewer. What do I need more of? Patience. Love.

I need those in abundance much more than I need things. I need impulse control so I don’t run from the next manufactured tragedy to the next manufactured tragedy. I need impulse control to stop taking things folks say personally. What they say, what I say, is a reflection of the person much more than it is a reflection of what you are doing. Folks have a lot of battles they are facing, dude, I had a lot of battles I was facing, that folks were and are clueless about.

So, instead of reacting to everything like it is critically important, take some time today and think about what is truly and certainly important in your life? I hope you find that what is truly important to you is not a material possession. I hope you find that what is truly important to you is your self, your sanity, your health, your life . . . And that you take your power back.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #EmbracetheWithin