Sucking Eggs

The old expression go suck an egg popped into my head today. Telling someone to go suck an egg was a way of suggesting they shove off, desist from irritating or aggravating their audience. There is some kind of gorgeous clarity in the exchange that I am exploring here and perhaps we can learn together as I write and you read? Here is the premise. Our moods are impacted by the words and actions of others, unless of course you have absolutely no contact with other human beings? If you live in and amongst humanity, you are and will be positively and negatively affected or infected, by others. I don’t know about you Dear Reader, but I can be in an exceptional mood, zinging along through my day and than wham, a wall of someone else’s emotions can erect itself instantaneously in front of me. The sudden impact can have me reeling backward and wondering what just happened, what did I hit? In the aftermath of impact, I shake my head and wonder, was it me or THEM? Can you relate? What has been your experience and assessment in this area? After the reeling, I often take a step further back, away from the feelings, the impact and begin to look at mood and how it presents when we interact with others. If I was feeling great before the interaction and like I had been linebacker hit hard after the exchange, I have to wonder about the infectious state of mind I had just been exposed to. So here is the gorgeous clarity I wrote about above. You can tell someone to go suck an egg, either literally or in your mind, separating you from their moods, their attitudes and the impact it potentially has on you. Give them back their feelings and sentiments. Do not fall into the trap of making them your own. Get clear on who you are no matter what comes your way or how tempting it is to fall in line with someone else’s hijacking of your emotional stability. You don’t want to be an egg sucker, do you? There is a gift in all of this Dear Reader. It is the decision each of us can make at some point or another in our lives and it is this-take nothing personally. I mean this with all sincerity. To take “things” personally opens up the door to a battle of the wits where each person tries to convince the other of how they have been done wrong. This rarely, if ever, results in positive outcomes. I will end with this-to thine own self be true. Stay in character, be kind to yourself and if someone else is sucking an egg, let them. You need not join them.