In touch with Ourselves

 I believe the most important person we can be in touch with, is ourselves.  

Some might disagree and say "No, it's my family.  Or, my children. Or my employer.

But the reason being in touch with ourselves is so important is that if we are, all these other communications will take care of themselves.

If I'm in a crappy mood and not aware of it, I may rub that mood all over the other people in my life.  We must look at ourselves as the ones who are primarily responsible for all of our moods.  And I say that because if we're aware of where we're at emotionally, we'll behave better when we're dealing with others in our lives.

I was reminded of this the other day when I read about a horrible road rage incident.  Two families were on the freeway and reportedly got into an argument over one accidentally cutting the other one off.  Reports are that the argument escalated to the point where they began shooting pistols at each others automobiles.  However, instead of hitting the other driver, each of the shooters shot a daughter of the other driver.  The last reports were that the children were alive and their fathers were in jail for attempted murder.

Now, could this disagreement on the freeway have been handled differently?  The answer is obviously yes.

 Either one of them could have asked themselves, "Is getting enraged over this other driver really worth risking my family's lives' and my life?"

But the problem is that they were not aware.  They didn't pause and evaluate the situation. If they had, they would have slowed down or pulled off the freeway until they were away from the other driver. The reality is that they likely would never see the other driver again and in a few days they would probably have forgotten all about it.  

This is an important lesson for those of us in recovery.  Learning to be patient with others and not making a big deal out anything.  We can't control others and we're lucky if we can control ourselves.  If we can't, we might find ourselves in a fit of anger heading into a liquor store or dope house before we've given ourselves time to think the issue through.

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