You find yourself in a situation that stirs your emotions. Heat rises, painting your face a flushed red. You feel and hear heart beats, pounding in your chest, drumming in your ears. Tensing, the possibility of pouncing swishes past your consciousness. Your upper lip tremors, curling back, revealing teeth readied for ripping to shreds whatever threatens safety. Your pupils, they have dilated, readying themselves for a quick calculation of accessing what to do next. You now have tunnel vision as you focus on what is before you, all else disappears. Nothing else matters right now, in this moment in time.
Have you experienced this fight or flight response Dear Reader? If you are a naturally calm person, perhaps you have witnessed this rather than felt it first hand? I am able to describe this response because I have lived it, many a time. While I am appreciative of my visceral response for self preservation, I am decidedly looking toward a more controlled reaction to emotional stimuli, that of being calm cool and collected. When emotions take over our bodies, our behaviours soon follow and with this combination, our vision, our peripheral vision, is impaired. So is our judgement. The type of tunnel vision that reactionary responses create can be devastating to relationships, with self and with other(s). We have been divinely designed to have a range of wonderful emotions. None of them are wrong, it is what we do in our emotional states that can be and are, judged in the aftermath. Here is what I have come to learn, about the devil. Yes, you read correctly, about satan and his minions. He likes it when we become upset. He thrives and drives when we react, respond, get primed for a fight. He likes it when we run away from our fears, our troubles, our emotions and our relationships. He is a match to a potential flame in each of us. This is why self control, calm in the storm, is an essential skill to be taught and learned. The rewards are too great for him when we pay the price for giving ourselves over to emotional, physiological, spiritual mayhem. He digs our despair, our anger, our lust for revenge. What he does not like, is peace. You want to do battle, Dear One? Good luck-there is always a winner and a loser in battle and you may be both when you look around and see the blood that has been shed. Romans 12:17-18 "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." Living peaceably is within our abilities. While it is is not low hanging fruit, easily picked and eaten, with thoughtful consideration and a desire to choose it over what is immediately in front of us, we can, live in peace, no matter the circumstance. Peace be with you.
Have you experienced this fight or flight response Dear Reader? If you are a naturally calm person, perhaps you have witnessed this rather than felt it first hand? I am able to describe this response because I have lived it, many a time. While I am appreciative of my visceral response for self preservation, I am decidedly looking toward a more controlled reaction to emotional stimuli, that of being calm cool and collected. When emotions take over our bodies, our behaviours soon follow and with this combination, our vision, our peripheral vision, is impaired. So is our judgement. The type of tunnel vision that reactionary responses create can be devastating to relationships, with self and with other(s). We have been divinely designed to have a range of wonderful emotions. None of them are wrong, it is what we do in our emotional states that can be and are, judged in the aftermath. Here is what I have come to learn, about the devil. Yes, you read correctly, about satan and his minions. He likes it when we become upset. He thrives and drives when we react, respond, get primed for a fight. He likes it when we run away from our fears, our troubles, our emotions and our relationships. He is a match to a potential flame in each of us. This is why self control, calm in the storm, is an essential skill to be taught and learned. The rewards are too great for him when we pay the price for giving ourselves over to emotional, physiological, spiritual mayhem. He digs our despair, our anger, our lust for revenge. What he does not like, is peace. You want to do battle, Dear One? Good luck-there is always a winner and a loser in battle and you may be both when you look around and see the blood that has been shed. Romans 12:17-18 "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." Living peaceably is within our abilities. While it is is not low hanging fruit, easily picked and eaten, with thoughtful consideration and a desire to choose it over what is immediately in front of us, we can, live in peace, no matter the circumstance. Peace be with you.
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