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Passion.
Merriam-Webster defines passion as an “intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.” I don’t really like this definition. I can have intense feelings of happiness or sadness or anger or any other emotion. I feel like passion is more encompassing, but I’m not sure of what. You always hear motivational and inspirational speakers tell you to “Find your passion.” Like, what does that even mean? 🤷🏻♀️ Why don’t they say “Find what you love?” or “Find what makes you happy?” What is it about passion that sets it apart? I’ve had a lot of jobs in a lot of different industries. But it wasn’t until I started working in farming that I truly began to understand what “find your…
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Closure.
Making sense of something we have lost is the acceptance stage of grief. Seeking closure can stem from any form of loss, not just the loss of a relationship. An explanation or answer as to why we lost something can provide us with the opportunity to learn something about ourselves or the other person or situation (whatever it may be). Closure exists on a scale; different personalities may be more prone to seek closure than others. Not receiving closure for people who need it can lead to psychological distress. One study found that people who prefer order and predictability – having a more rigid way of thinking and a low tolerance for ambiguity…
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Truth.
The truth can hurt. That is fact. But wouldn’t you rather know the truth than believe a lie or lie by omission? I would. Not knowing and feelings of uncertainty can linger for as long as something is being avoided. I don’t want to live in discomfort indefinitely. I would rather quick pain of the truth, so I can feel it, and move on from it. Rip the Band-Aid off. 🩹 Quick and painful is better than slow and painful. Yeah? I do believe “the truth will set you free,” but I also believe some people “can’t handle the truth.” This is true of myself too. We cannot control our emotional reaction, but we can manage that emotion. And some of us manage our emotions better than…
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Disappointment.
The underlying theme for disappointment is unmet expectations. How true is that when you really think about it? When I’m disappointed in myself, I am usually left questioning, “What did I do wrong? How could I have done better?” When I’m disappointed in someone else, I’m usually left wondering, “If he would only…” 🙄 It’s harder for me to be disappointed in other people than it is to be disappointed in myself. At least when I haven’t met my own expectations, I can reflect to see if I laid my head and my heart on the line (logic and emotion). If I didn’t, I know to do better and can take steps toward improvement. Other people, well…it seems a lot of other people…
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Transformation.
Do you ever go through periods of life where you feel God working within you? What this looks like may be different for each of us, but for me, I feel uneasy, restless, and emotional, yet hopeful, motivated, and inspired. I recognize these feelings when they appear and know that I am going through a transformational change. In most change models, we create a picture of what we think the solution should be, then work hard to make reality fit that picture. We try to dominate the situation. I have a friend who is super Type A, logical, and analytical. This would be his approach to change. You create a…
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Intuition.
Did you know that there is a lot of chatter in the medical community about our gut being our second brain? So when you “go with your gut” or have a “gut feeling”, there really is something to say for that. Scientists call this second brain our enteric nervous system (ENS), and it is made up of more than 100 million nerve cells 😳 that line our gastrointestinal tract from our esophagus to our rectum. The ENS isn’t capable of thoughts as we know them coming from our brain, but it does communicate back and forth with our brain. Researchers and doctors thought that depression and anxiety contributed to the…