Nadine and I were going to go to the movies recently and then wanted to go run some errands afterwards, but we realized we needed to plan what we were going to do for lunch. We have been on a low carb diet, and it had been going really well; neither of us wanted to break to weight loss streak by eating out at a high carb place. I looked around at the carb content of some of our favorite restaurant foods, and we came to the conclusion we should just bring a little cooler with us filled with the foods we have been eating at lunch during this diet.
I packed us a lunch and off we went to watch the movie. We saw Terminator: Genysis. (It was really good, BTY, especially if you have seen all the other Terminator movies, which we had.) After the movie, we had planned to go to the mall right near the movie theater so we got in the car and drove to the parking structure to get some shade for our lunch. We started to eat our lunch in our car, in a parking structure, and I turned to Nadine and stated that what we were doing was weird. She said something that I have been thinking about every since; she said, "It's not weird; it's just uncommon." Right, it wasn't weird, but it was uncommon to us. We had never eaten a cooler packed lunch in a parking structure. But was there anything weird about it? No, it was just something I had not done before.
As I said, this statement has had me thinking about me in general. I sometimes don't want to do something yet can't really explain to myself as to why. It seems foreign to me thus I don't really want to do it. Yet in my mind, I feel like I am being rational and offer up what seem like solid reasons why I do not want to do something new, which is essentially weird to me.
This is where I think I need practice in using my new brain (if this phrase doesn't make sense, you can go to this post and read what I am talking about) to place some logic into my life situations. After writing the paragraph above, I can really see that stressful emotions very often interfere with my decision making process.
Doing something new does not make it weird, per se; it just is uncommon. I find a lot of comfort in thinking things are just uncommon, instead of thinking they are weird. Why? I do not know. I just know that an emotional response comes up when I think of something I am doing is weird, but no emotions come up when I think I am doing something uncommon . It seems to me that if I use my new brain to roll around ideas that I have a better chance at succeeding, In other words, if I can be objective and consider things like something is uncommon, instead of weird I might be able to succeed at it trying it, doing it, doing well at it, etc.
Being subjective in my daily life often leads me to be closed off and a wall flower, two things I do not like being and are really against me being the best person I can be. Letting my middle brain control my decision making process, i.e. being subjective (by that I mean this dictionary definition- based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions) only causes me strife. This does not mean that I shouldn't feel emotions or never use my emotions to assist in making decisions, It means I should not let ONLY my emotions make decisions for me.
Okay that was a long post, huh?! I have written about emotions before and will continue to do so as I struggle with the fight I have set up in my brain between the new and the middle brain (and sometimes the old, primal brain). I figure if I struggle with this others must, too.
Consider the source of your decisions. It might lead you to some uncommon, better ways of thinking!! :)
HUGS!!!!
Interesting. I can see your point and I agree. Uncommon is a lot better sounding than weird. So where does that leave me? In the course of my life I have been told many times that I am weird. And not one of the people who told me that knew about my weirdest behaviour. I guess that says a lot about me. At first it bother me, but over the years I decided weird basically means different, going my own way, doing my own thing, being unconventional or being an individual. So now it does not bother me that much.
ReplyDeleteYou do not seen weird to me. You are an individual and I recognize that you and your husband have some ‘interests’ that make you different than the stereotypical couple. That does not make you weird. It does make you unique, interesting and personal. These are good qualities and ones that our society could use a bit more of. We tend to be a 'follow the herd' society. Taking up the interest that the media tells us too. I digress.
Getting back to your writing, I agree with what you have said about emotions. You worded it very well. We need to include emotions in our decision making but must also use logic. And I like your last line. “uncommon, better ways of thinking!!” Because I think the uncommon ways are often better. I think we do things that are uncommon when they are better for us. Otherwise, we would not do them and just follow the herd. Which is the easy way to go.
Take Care
Mike
Great thoughts, as per usual. I do feel that my husband and I have a unique way of living but to me, its just uncommon, not weird, as you stated. :)
DeleteThe thing about emotions is that it can be hard for me to recognize and admit the emotion I am feeling, which often leads to problems. So for a long time, I have tried to get rid of these emotions, which also causes problems. Recently, I have been to look at emotions as an energy that I can choose to recognize and try to manipulate to the positive side of life. I have spent so much of my life on the negative side of energy that it is often hard for me to do this, but I see the advantages of learning this skill. We all have a choice in how we use the energy inside of ourselves; I just haven't believed that I could do this until recently. I will continue to write about this learning process.
Thank you again for writing!! I love interacting with you, and I feel I learn from your thoughts! HUGS!!