Just a brief thought for the day: you are not your feelings.

I woke up this morning feeling angry, anxious, and judgmental.

Does that mean, in order to be “authentic”, “true to myself”, or “transparent”, that I need to inflict all that negativity on the people around me?

Of course not.

I drank my coffee. I bit back several biting comments about small annoyances that really don’t matter. I took a little extra time to be alone, to breathe, to read, and to pray. I double checked my words before they left my mouth.

Does that mean I wasn’t being honest? Does it mean that I wasn’t being true to myself, just putting on a front, just keeping up appearances?

I don’t think so.

I am not my feelings. They do not express my truest self. What I felt this morning was nothing more than a product of the end of a long, slightly overbusy, slightly overpeopled workweek, and a lack of good sleep.

I don’t need to act that out in order to be true to myself.

Having emotionally diarrhea doesn’t help anyone – it just makes everything stink.

Because, beyond all those emotions, which come and go in ways that have very little to do with me, are deeper truths about the self I want to live into – to be loving, generous, compassionate, and willing to treat others with kindness, even when I don’t feel like it.

That’s truly who I am, not whatever I’m feeling at this particular moment. 

On mornings like this, I’m really grateful that’s the case.