EMOTION INTOXICATION (PART 2)

Wherever we go, someone in authority defines reality.  They give us focused purpose.  They keep us from emotion intoxication.  How so?

As I write, I’m an officer.  I once responded to a back up call.  I entered the scene and felt the dazed craze haze maze.  The blurry reality. 

A long time ago I planned to meet a young lady.  Our “relationship” was “up in the air” so to speak.  I waited for her, and she came walking her dog.  (She did this to appear to be simply walking her dog, not coming to meet me.  I on the other hand, sat at a table, with no dog or book or anything to hide the fact that I was waiting for her.)  Again, I experienced the haze of crazed daze maze.  A reality that was blurry.

As I thought and prayed about these two situations, I realized they had this in common:  Unfocused purposelessness.  At my job, there was no lead officer giving specific directions and instructions.  With the girl who walked her dog, our relationship had no clear beginning or ending. No origin or destination.  In both situations I felt intense emotions.  With back up calls, adrenaline flows.  With this woman, attraction.  In both, an unclear reality.

When I imagined things being different in both of these scenarios, it was clear to me the issue was boundaries.  If I practiced what I learned in the academy, seeing, thinking, and responding (STAR), then I would have understood that I was entering Officer X’s territory, under her authority.  She defined reality.  My focused purpose:  Assist and guard Officer X. Period.

With the girl and her dog, I could have defined our relationship BEFORE our so called meeting that day. If she didn’t want to be clear, then I could refuse to exist in a relationship limbo.  I could refuse to let my emotions, in either situation, flow without clear definition.

Emotion intoxication.

So wherever we go, we should seek out the one who defines reality in that territory, and assume his focused purpose.  We should join our will with her will.  And if we are the ones in authority in a specific territory, we should know and stand on our God given focused purpose.