Control Yourself!

Last week, I was asked to do something that was not really necessary, and my circumstances that week supplied me with a really strong excuse not to do it, but it was the right thing to do.  I forgot about it, and at a time when I could still do it, was told not to worry about it.  I said okay, thank you so much, and promptly went on my way. Shortly thereafter, a third party called and pressured me to reconsider. I agreed and got the job done. So here's the real point of my story... my reaction to the third party was annoyance and anger. Not overtly, but privately, I was angry.  My thoughts were along the line of "who does she think she is?" and "she is such a pushy person, only thinking of herself".  Needless to say, I was feeling very negative, a state of mind I abhor, so I decided to try to look at the third person in a different way. Have you ever tried pulling something very heavy? The first yank doesn't move anything at all...especially if that yank was halfhearted... but if you tighten your grip, steady yourself, and keep at it, eventually you move it just a little. Then a little more, and a little more, and before you know it, you've made some headway. Well, that's how I was feeling. The first thought about her was hardly a change at all. "Well, she just doesn't know how to mind her own business"... then a little better "I don't really think she realizes how pushy she is" and "maybe she was just trying to prevent me from looking bad to others" ... then "this is a silly reason to be so upset"... Well, you get the idea... until finally, I could honestly say I was no longer angry. I don't mean to give the impression that this was a quick and easy feat, in fact, it took me all night. But it worked. And that's my point. 

In retrospect, I can see that my anger was really about me feeling a bit guilty for not doing the right thing in the first place, but I would never have seen that in the state I was in. I can also see that this person actually had my back, because she didn't want me to look bad.  So... the moral of my story is that we can control how we feel as long as we take control of our thoughts. This is not the first time I've talked about this in my blog, but it was such a strong example in my own life that I just had to share... so control your thoughts, control your life!