Temper, Trek, and the Stream of Consciousness

They say red heads have bad tempers. My hair is not as red as it used to be, but I’ve never had a bad temper. I don’t even remember any other red heads having bad tempers. Not that there are a lot of us around. I have a reputation, mostly on the job, of being a calm person. Yet, I don’t always feel calm inside my head. I have a considerable amount of anxiety. That’s probably why I like to teach meditation to my  clients, because I need reminders. I don’t like feeling anxious or angry. The times I’ve felt angry enough to lose my temper feel alien to me. Alien like going into a temporal anomaly. Where did that come from? Oh, my stream of consciousness.

Sometimes I’ve been tempted to let myself get really angry and blow up. It seems like fun for other people, or else why would they do it? I believe anger can be addicting. But I don’t like it. Not one bit. Except the cussing alone in my car, but that was last week’s SOC post….

Where was I?

Losing my temper, as tempted as I might be to try it, almost always feels wrong to me. I can feel anger, but I don’t like to yell a lot. I get shaky and feel slightly sick in my stomach, when I come close to losing my temper. Maybe it has something to do with Spock. That’s right. I’m going to sci-fi again. I think I need a Star Trek fix. It’s been so long. Spock, my first crush back when the original Trek first aired, almost never got angry. He kept his emotions under control with meditation and logic. I admired that in him because my life at age 11 was chaotic. That’s another story that must be somewhere on this blog.

So, what does this have to do with Anything Is Possible?

It’s possible to control our emotions, and not let our emotions control us.

It’s possible for me to feel and express anger without losing my temper. (My daughter would tell you that I have lost my temper plenty of times, but it’s really only a couple of times that I’ve really lost it.)

It’s possible to find a video clip of Mr. Spock losing his temper:

I feel better now.

 

Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday post prompt for today was “temp.”

 

If you’d like to join in the fun of the Saturday Stream of Consciousness visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2015/09/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-1215/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Inside Out: A Fun Movie About Perseverance….and Faith, and Hope

I don’t go to movies much. But when I saw the trailer for Inside Out, an animated film about feelings, I wanted to go. Then a woman from my support group brought it up and we decided to go see it.

The main character (on the outside) is a young girl named Riley. She has a hard time with her family’s move to California. Having moved at least nine times as the child of a 20 year marine, I could feel Riley’s pain.

The characters on the inside include Riley’s feelings: Fear, Anger, Disgust, Sadness, and the ever popular, Joy. Inside Out shows how all our feelings have important roles to play in our lives.

My favorite part begins somewhere in the middle when Joy and Sadness get sucked out of brain headquarters, where decisions are made, and have to find a way back carrying some really important core memories.

On their adventure they encounter the worlds of imagination, long term memory and the dark pit where forgotten memories go. They meet Riley’s imaginary friend, who’s actions give me a theory about why I have no memory of my imaginary friend, Auntie Jane, who my mother said I blamed for my misdeeds.

The only problem I had with the movie, and it’s a minor one for me, was that the happy ending of the traditional family with mom and dad, might be hard for children who come from  non-traditional or single parent families. But then, the film provides a great framework with which to identify and talk about feelings that might arise. I’m probably activating Fear’s cousin, Worry, about this. I’m sorry, Worry, but you need to go away.

Watching Inside Out, I laughed, and I cried, joyfully forgetting I was watching a cartoon. I found Inside Out  to be entertaining, original, and visually intriguing. It’s a fun movie that teaches about perseverance, teamwork and problem solving. Now that I think about it, it’s also about faith and hope, too.

I might even go see it again.

Remember: Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides.

Excuuuuuuse Me!

Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions

I don’t know if I like today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday. I do like the way Leigh and our other prompters build up to announcing the prompt creating  anticipation about what this weeks prompt will be. I sort of look forward to it all week and imagine a drum roll right before I read the prompt itself.

When played with the sound of the word, excuse, I remembered one of my favorite comedians: Steve Martin. So, I just had to look him up on YouTube. Watching the following video reminded me of why I had such a crush on him in the late seventies. This first clip doesn’t have a lot of the silliness and cuteness I love about this “wild and crazy guy,” but it does contain his famous “Excuse Me” line.

The banjo clip isn’t the funniest one, though it might be first in a series of clips of Steve saying “excuse me.” If there’s anything offensive in this video, well EXCUUUUSE ME!

Next time I make a tiny mistake or worry about someone judging me, I’ll use Steve Martin’s excuuuuuuse me line.  But there’s a 99% chance I’ll really just say it in my head, not out loud, because I have this thing where I rarely show anger. Excuse me for being too nice for my own damn good. It will still make me feel better to think about Steve Martin.

Hey, I really like this prompt after all. Excuse me for saying I wasn’t so sure in the beginning. That’s the power of Stream of Consciousness.

If you’d like to join in the fun of SoC Saturday, check this out:

http://lindaghill.com/2014/12/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-december-1914/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. Have fun!