This morning, I had a blog post idea in mind for today’s Mindful Monday post. Then, as the day went by, I was going about my to-do-list and getting things done. However, I completely forgot what topic I was going to cover in today’s post.
Surprisingly though, this happened for a reason – as things always do. What happened throughout my day and how I dealt with it was enough inspiration for a Mindful Monday post. And since it’s a topic which many of you may be experiencing, I decided to write about it today.
Getting “Triggered”.
Until very recently (sometime around the summer actually), I was the kind of person who would easily get triggered by things going wrong in my daily life or situations with others. Examples include getting extremely frustrated at Uber drivers for taking the long or wrong route to my destination. I’d feel irritated by minor, insignificant events. I’d even react to reading a negative comment from a random person on a Twitter post.
I can still recall how big of an impact these little incidents had on my well-being and mood.
In reality, what I was doing was giving my power and valuable energy to situations that obviously didn’t deserve it.
When we give our power away, we are allowing other individuals and situations to control your emotions and feelings. What we should be doing is being completely conscious of our thoughts, emotions and reactions at all times. We can choose how to respond to any specific situation in the way that best serves us.
To be honest, it took me months of practicing the art of ‘not giving my power away’ to be able to reach a point where I can do it naturally, without having to think about it or put in any effort into the process.
Choosing How to Respond
Today was a perfect example of just that. My dad started with an excellent Osteopath appointment at a professional sports medical center. After my appointment, I headed to a nearby cafe for the first time. And despite using my phone’s map app to guide the cab driver, he was new and he ended up wasting a lot of time by doing a small mistake.
This was the first incident. The second was the fact that a courier shipment of an important legal document has been on hold for a long time and this involved another person who was being contacted instead of me. The issue has been going on for about two weeks and I had to make a call and send an email in an effort to resolve it.
The third interesting misfortune was the fact that my new portable mobile phone charging wasn’t working and my battery was low. Plus, I had my laptop with me and I planned to spend the day working from a cafe but instead I had to go back home to charge my phone.
Last but not least, the Starbucks where I went to try and get some work done after my lunch (I ignored the non-working phone charger) didn’t have decent Wifi (and it’s been like that since years in that specific location). So after a failed attempt at logging into LinkedIn, I packed my stuff and headed back home to charge my phone and check emails.
Control Your Emotions
The wonderful element in today’s story is the way in which I handled each of these situations. Unlike the old me, this time I responded instead of reacting. Rational steps were taken towards solving each issue in an effortless and timely manner. I didn’t involve my emotions, because there was no reason to. All that was needed was to take some kind of positive action to overcome each misfortune and move on to the next to-do-list item.
I’m truly proud of myself for my new, evolved way in dealing with negative or unpleasant situations. It was as if I was watching myself swift through each obstacle with complete ease and comfort. In each situation, I managed to remain calm and centered. You can do the same when you control your emotions.
With the cab driver story, I simply said to him how he’s now wasting my time by doing the mistake that he did. So, I responded but I didn’t react. I didn’t get angry or agitated. I didn’t slam the door as I left the car. It was simple – I just went into the cafe and ordered my lunch.
With the courier delivery, I made a call (which didn’t resolve the problem) and I sent an email (which will hopefully progress the situation). To resolve the low battery issue, I simply went back home and used the normal charger to bring my phone back to life. And I’m now sitting at the Starbucks across from my neighborhood to write this post. Luckily the Wifi here works perfectly.
Keeping Your Power
What do you do when you sense yourself over-reacting (or even reacting) to something that doesn’t deserve your attention?
Consider if you really want to give your power away to the situation or individual. If not, then respond in a rational, positive way and let go of the negative emotion.
I will give you some tips on releasing negative emotions in constructive ways in future posts.
For now, practice keeping your power and energy to the things that truly matter in your life.
