Who’s Driving Your Bus?

Picture the human scale of emotions. Oh, it’s so vast!!! An endless stream of epic feelings. Just to name a few — Joy, anger, guilt, frustration, bliss, jealousy, insecurity, shame, disappointment, etc. Our list could go on and on! Picture all these emotions as tiny cartoon emoji’s, showcasing exactly what they represent. Imagine these little guys bouncing right onto a bright yellow colored school bus. Can you see them all? Jumping, playing, chatting, and co-creating chaos as they take their seats. Now…where are they all sitting?

Let’s talk about FEAR. Where is FEAR sitting? I don’t know about you, but for me, I have accepted the probability that permanently eliminating the sensation of FEAR is most likely not going to happen. And you know what? That is okay! FEAR may always have a seat on my bus, but I will not allow it to take the wheel. Just because we are afraid to do something doesn’t mean that it has to completely stop us from doing it. Instead, we invite COURAGE to steer.

This is a visual I use almost daily. As a wild Gemini, you can already guess how dramatic, oversensitive, and extremely emotional I can certainly get. (Work in progress!) Taking an inventory of my feelings, smack in the middle of the day, is sometimes, necessary. “What am I feeling?” What are my thoughts attached to this feeling? How are these thoughts and feelings helping? Not helping? What could be a possible workable solution? What thought and/or feeling needs to be discarded in order to move toward this solution? And so on.

Our thoughts create our feelings. Sometimes, we don’t even realize it! When a large emotion washes over me, I pause…then I visualize my cartoon emoji emotion guy. I watch him sit down while I ask for a better, stronger emotion to hop in the driver’s seat. For example, I thank FEAR for attempting to be helpful and warning me against protentional danger. Then, I call up COURAGE to the front of the bus.

This can be done in many different varieties. Maybe JEALOUSY is consuming you. Acknowledge it and thank it so you can now get to the bottom of where this is coming from. Follow the trail! Follow your thought patterns right into that nagging sensation of JEALOUSY. What or who is troubling you? Does someone have something you desire? What would it look like if we invited GRATEFUL to take the wheel, instead? It could easily look like you jotting down a list of things you are currently grateful for, even while simultaneously drowning inside your temporary envy tidal wave.

I am fully aware of how silly this exercise may sound, but I pinky promise you, it’s a powerful one. I invite you to give it a whirl! Maybe it will work for you, maybe it won’t. But no matter what, it will most likely give you a smile, anyway.