Figuring out our relationship to power and control is among the most persistent, challenging, and important tasks. We begin life without any control, even over ourselves. The number of times we hear, “Why are you crying? Do you want me to give you something to cry about?!!” is an indication of our lack of control over our emotions; the world then expects us to learn how to pack away our tears, stop sniffling, and get on with the important work of life, by golly! And we carry that trained need for control into the remainder of our lives, waiting to extend the tearless expectation of self-control over all the other people we meet, especially our children, our spouse, our brothers and sisters, and our friends.
But what if we could just let other folks be, I dunno, themselves? What if we left it to them to live their lives, to react as they might to the stimuli that nature throws at them, and to walk beside them, laughing at the ridiculous and crying when pain gets too much to bear? What if we didn’t need to use our energy, usually in exceedingly tiring amounts, to make sure everyone around us behaves the way we think is best…the way we want them to?
This edition of the podcast looks at these questions and challenges us to give away some of the control we struggle to maintain so we can enjoy the freedom of not being in charge and others can enjoy being themselves around us.
Control...Freak?