Today’s Daily Stoic writing prompt: How can I avoid fruitless emotions today?

The associated meditation talks about ignoring the emotions that pop up in a challenging situation. Again, here’s where I part ways with the stoics. Emotions will not be ignored. You can try, but if you try to actively suppress them, there will be a price to pay somewhere down the line.

I learned this the hard way. I learned to “toughen up” in the face of teasing and bullying as a child–which in many ways helped me cope and come to thrive–but as an adult, I discovered that I’d thrown up enormous walls that have hindered me most of my life and made me keep people at arm’s length.

The thing is this: there is no true joy without sorrow. The folks who wrote Inside Out knew this. When you try to blunt or hide your sorrow, what you do is end up spreading it all over, like jam on toast, so much so that it blunts all other emotions, including happiness and joy. Emotions are a gift. They are part of what makes us human. I’m learning that giving myself permission to feel is important, that allowing myself to be sad or angry or fearful–not avoiding them–is the key to learning to live with them.

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We can now clearly see that the dove nesting on our porch has two chicks. They are now well past the gaping maw stage and are clearly bird-shaped. I’m a little worried now that when we go away next week, they’ll be gone before we return.

Continuing to work on my scroll; I’m taking a break at the moment as I complete the last of the illumination. I’m checking around about a possible foreign language text; I’ve got enough time to possibly source it, but it’s not a common language, so we shall see.

I picked a good Olympic event to actually watch live today–I tuned in to watch Canadian Andre de Grasse take the gold medal in the 200 m. I’m also circling back to catch a little of the gymnastics coverage, particularly the men’s–where I’m amazed at how many nations are represented in the medalists.

Today I cleared out the large box under my desk where I’ve stored extra printer paper, envelopes, and cardstock, and discovered that that is likely where many of the downstairs moths have been coming from. (One forgets that paper has cotton/wood content, and clothes moths will happily eat it.) Anyway, it’s now been cleared, and I’ll probably take the opportunity over the next few days to check around a few other places and make sure there’s nothing more.

Two more days of work until my vacation starts.

And I’m excited for this release next month.