Emotions of Life
I have literally spent years reading, studying, and writing about self discovery. Who are we, why are we, where are we, and how are we. What makes us who we are and, is who we are, who we envision ourselves to be.
Does our religion make us who we are? Does our family and friends make us who we are? Does our career and sphere of influence make us who we are? How much control over all this do we really have? How much are we taught to simply conform because that is the responsible thing to do?
Life is a choice we are told, happiness is a choice we are told, every dang thing is a choice, that is what all the motivators, and all the books say. It is simply a choice and they all make it sound so easy. If that be the case what choice did you have in your gender, your race, your sexual orientation, the color of your eyes, etc. There are things about our lives that we had no choice in and in those we are taught to accept and make the best of it. Once again society has no answers so they compartmentalize and place us in a box for their comfort not ours.
When tragedy happens we do in fact discover a hidden version of self we did not know existed. The loss of a job, a sudden health issue, the loss of a loved one, the realities of life mistakes, any one of these things brings about a level of discovery good or bad. This is outside the daily norms that fight for our emotions, these are the circumstances that awaken the person that lives inside us.
Think about those hidden emotions that kill us from the inside out. Emotions like fear of failure, a love other than your spouse, financial chaos, living a sexual orientation opposite of who you truly are, being stuck in a church or religion because of family pressures, etc. Those feelings that cannot be expressed for fear of condemnation. The misery of relationships that few on the outside see yet the torment on the inside robs people of their potential for life. The love affairs that feel so good yet feels so bad all at the same time. Why does life have to be so complicated? Is it because we have set out a list of norms that go against the nature of our humanity? Do we adhere to a belief system that fosters emotional lies instead of spiritual truths?
In a society that has high corporate crime rates, runaway divorce rates, corruption in the clergy, and out of control materialism, why do we keep listening to the same broken record and honestly expecting things to change. Are we following when we should be leading? We (the emotionally hurting) are lonely because we do not fit, we do not fit because we are placed in cookie cutter lifestyles yet the reality is we were created unique.
You wonder why depression and suicide are so rampant? I am not a medical professional and speak with no authority, however I can't help but believe in many cases people are trying to escape the cage the so called normal people have attempted to place them in. Here is an all too common statement the emotionally lost say to themselves constantly,"there must be something wrong with me since I do not fit in". So we medicate to hide who we really are. Why can't there be a safe haven to explore the depths of the emotions we feel? Do we have to lie about our feelings and go through life as though they do not exist? In today's times that answer is a resounding sad yes.
Only you (me) knows the real person that lives inside our body. We know all of our secrets, we hide all of those emotions that would make us different than the world we are told to conform too. We can't express the feelings we have because we are taught that they are sinful. So what do we do? We lie to the world around us and convince everyone we are normal when the truth is we exist in misery and dying from the inside out. Why? That is easy, we are normal living in an abnormal world. We all have those deep dark emotions that tug at our heart BUT like a caged animal we cannot share them.
Life is too precious not to live it. I have no magic wand that can make who we are acceptable, I wish I did. I do however after years of chasing the elusive societal norm rainbow have the courage to stand up and be me. With the choices I truly have I choose to love people, accept them for who they are, encourage them to take chances and make mistakes, pick them up when they fall, forgive them even when the sin is against me, and most of all forgive myself when I sin against others. I choose to live as fully as I can and hopefully someday reach the potential God placed in me because he believed in my individuality. I choose to chase the dream with a clear vision. Simply put I choose to live not die. I will keep writing and talking about breaking the chains that the world has placed on us. Who knows someday if peace permeates the world we may all learn to accept the differences we all have. What a wonderful colorful world it will be.
peace to you
Dale
Does our religion make us who we are? Does our family and friends make us who we are? Does our career and sphere of influence make us who we are? How much control over all this do we really have? How much are we taught to simply conform because that is the responsible thing to do?
Life is a choice we are told, happiness is a choice we are told, every dang thing is a choice, that is what all the motivators, and all the books say. It is simply a choice and they all make it sound so easy. If that be the case what choice did you have in your gender, your race, your sexual orientation, the color of your eyes, etc. There are things about our lives that we had no choice in and in those we are taught to accept and make the best of it. Once again society has no answers so they compartmentalize and place us in a box for their comfort not ours.
When tragedy happens we do in fact discover a hidden version of self we did not know existed. The loss of a job, a sudden health issue, the loss of a loved one, the realities of life mistakes, any one of these things brings about a level of discovery good or bad. This is outside the daily norms that fight for our emotions, these are the circumstances that awaken the person that lives inside us.
Think about those hidden emotions that kill us from the inside out. Emotions like fear of failure, a love other than your spouse, financial chaos, living a sexual orientation opposite of who you truly are, being stuck in a church or religion because of family pressures, etc. Those feelings that cannot be expressed for fear of condemnation. The misery of relationships that few on the outside see yet the torment on the inside robs people of their potential for life. The love affairs that feel so good yet feels so bad all at the same time. Why does life have to be so complicated? Is it because we have set out a list of norms that go against the nature of our humanity? Do we adhere to a belief system that fosters emotional lies instead of spiritual truths?
In a society that has high corporate crime rates, runaway divorce rates, corruption in the clergy, and out of control materialism, why do we keep listening to the same broken record and honestly expecting things to change. Are we following when we should be leading? We (the emotionally hurting) are lonely because we do not fit, we do not fit because we are placed in cookie cutter lifestyles yet the reality is we were created unique.
You wonder why depression and suicide are so rampant? I am not a medical professional and speak with no authority, however I can't help but believe in many cases people are trying to escape the cage the so called normal people have attempted to place them in. Here is an all too common statement the emotionally lost say to themselves constantly,"there must be something wrong with me since I do not fit in". So we medicate to hide who we really are. Why can't there be a safe haven to explore the depths of the emotions we feel? Do we have to lie about our feelings and go through life as though they do not exist? In today's times that answer is a resounding sad yes.
Only you (me) knows the real person that lives inside our body. We know all of our secrets, we hide all of those emotions that would make us different than the world we are told to conform too. We can't express the feelings we have because we are taught that they are sinful. So what do we do? We lie to the world around us and convince everyone we are normal when the truth is we exist in misery and dying from the inside out. Why? That is easy, we are normal living in an abnormal world. We all have those deep dark emotions that tug at our heart BUT like a caged animal we cannot share them.
Life is too precious not to live it. I have no magic wand that can make who we are acceptable, I wish I did. I do however after years of chasing the elusive societal norm rainbow have the courage to stand up and be me. With the choices I truly have I choose to love people, accept them for who they are, encourage them to take chances and make mistakes, pick them up when they fall, forgive them even when the sin is against me, and most of all forgive myself when I sin against others. I choose to live as fully as I can and hopefully someday reach the potential God placed in me because he believed in my individuality. I choose to chase the dream with a clear vision. Simply put I choose to live not die. I will keep writing and talking about breaking the chains that the world has placed on us. Who knows someday if peace permeates the world we may all learn to accept the differences we all have. What a wonderful colorful world it will be.
peace to you
Dale
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