The Comfortable Tree Stump

The Problem With Emotions January 8, 2009

God does some weird things. Well, I mean, they seem pretty weird when you’re in the middle of them. I guess they shouldn’t really, as I do believe in a God that raises people from the dead, walks on water and created some pretty spectacular special effects. A few mind games isn’t too much for him. Let me explain…

I’ve been thinking for a while about emotions. I’m a very conceptual person, and I love to think I ‘understand’ something, so I can put it in a box on a shelf and leave it, and so I try and do that with everything, and everyone. It drives my wife potty!

Emotions don’t work that way though, and so you can’t pigeon-hole them, or the people within whom they reside. This rather scuppers my nice filing system for people, and I keep meaning to get around to ‘understanding’ emotions. Which would be fine, except I don’t think that’s going to be possible. Emotions have this nasty habit of not staying in the holes I put them in. I guess that’s why I ignore them as much as possible.

So last night, round someone’s house with some friends from church we were discussing our hopes and plans for 2009. Without too much thinking, I put down on the paper I was writing on, ‘developing emotional realities to attach to logical concepts I already understand’. Sceptics may say I was just thinking it, but I think God’s in it, because it links so well with many areas of my life currently.

And that brings me to my point. I finally got around to opening a Christian youth work magazine I’ve been carting around for the last week, only to find the main article was on realising we are emotional beings, and working that out. I wasn’t sure whether to be happy, excited or just plain annoyed at God for being right, just when I wanted a bit more time off to mope and be lazy. Either way, finding the article left me frustrated, and I ran from one end of the apartment I live in several times in frustration, and much to the confusion of my wife. (Actually, I don’t think she was that concerned, she carried on watching a DVD and didn’t even look up, so perhaps she’s got used to my unusual ways). I must start studying and get to know how to express these emotions more ‘normally’…