Reaction: intellect versus emotion
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Editor,
Food for thought: “What’s the appeal?” As I share this, it is really a way of reminding myself. What attitude do I hold onto about all the turmoil in our nation and the world today? The immediate appeal is to my emotions rather than my intellect.
If I stay with this immediate appeal, I usually feel fear, anger and resentment. The trick for me is to remember to make the choice to take the situation into my intellect, my reasoning nature. I usually suddenly feel more thoughtful and peaceful. That’s the choice I have to make. The emotional-self is triggered first and I will stay there unless I remind myself to move my thoughts to my intellectual-self. I will always have emotions, but the question is from where am I coming? Who or what is in charge of me — another person or some outer situation or my own intelligence?
Isn’t it funny how seeming little things stick with you over the years? I don’t recall a heck of a lot of what I learned at Beloit College, a small liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. But I do recall something a religion class professor said in class one day that has stuck with me. He said that we humans have been given a great gift, the gift of reasoning and intellect, and that we can open this gift in all situations in our lives or we can simply stumble along reacting to things with our emotions.
I’ll always remember this and hopefully keep fine-tuning this process as I respond to what life has to offer.
Bob McClellan
Polson
