So, how are you doing? Really… How are you doing? Me? I’m hanging in there, trying to stay focused on what’s important and working daily on not allowing all that is happening in the world today “infect” my attitude or diminish my hope. I believe that each day we must choose how we will feel, what we will think and what we will do with the 24 hours we are given. Each day we make hundreds of choices on what fills our minds, what we allow in our hearts and what rolls off of our tongues. It’s certainly not easy and it requires much of the same mindset we have when we utilize our Situational Awareness skills for our physical self-protection. Perhaps we can look at it like “Emotional Awareness.” Become aware of what threats, stressors, and negative influences that are jeopardizing our internal self and emotional security. Paying attention to our minds and emotions throughout the day and consciously choosing to guard our emotional health is vital to our emotional security.
First, we must learn how to identify them just like we have learned to identify potential threats and hazards as we walk through a parking lot and make the necessary adjustments to stay physically safe. What is it in your world that negatively impacts your joy? What stresses you out and hijacks your mind? What makes you angry and short-tempered? What makes you feel hopeless? Is it being isolated? Not being isolated enough? The news or social media? Once you identify the “threats”, what actions can you take to avoid them and not allow them to wear you down and weaken you emotionally? What are some effective tactics and actions you can take to lessen the harm they inflict?
For me, I found that I was consuming too much news. I had the news on all of the time and when it wasn’t on the TV, I found myself checking the headlines on my computer or on my phone! I was addicted to having to know what was going on. It wasn’t until I unplugged myself from the 24/7 news cycle that I realized the real damage it was doing to me emotionally. It just sucked the life right out of me. It left me frustrated, angry and depressed with no emotional energy to care for my loved ones or myself. Joy? No, all of the anxiety and news swirling in my head was robbing me of the ability to see and find joy in just about anything. I finally got tired of being so down and having all of the thoughts that were in my mind being so negative and consuming, that I made a choice. The choice of taking back control over what I allow in my mind, what I think about and what I focus my time and energy on. Wow – what a difference this has made. Yes, I still check in on the news of the day and have a healthy sense of what I need to know, but instead of festering on it, I choose ways that I can do something positive about it. I pray for our country, our leaders and for those I learn are in need or distress. I study issues so I can better understand them and learn from them. I see if there are ways I can positively contribute in some way. I now daily choose to focus myself, my thoughts, my time and my energy positively on what really matters in my world. God, my precious family, my country and my work and mission.
I pray you take on the task of learning your own personal “Emotional Awareness” skills and guard and protect your heart, mind, soul and body…
Carrie Lightfoot
