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Transcript

You Do Not Have to React · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes your body knows you are reacting before your mind has caught up.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Your jaw tightens.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Your chest gets tense.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Your breathing changes.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: A familiar sentence begins forming in your mind before
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: the other person has even finished speaking.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: What you hear may have touched anger,
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: fear, shame, or an old wound, and the impulse to respond feels immediate.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Notice that moment.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Not because emotion is the enemy.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Emotion is just information.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Anger may be telling you that a boundary has been crossed.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Fear may be telling you that something feels uncertain or unsafe.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hurt may be telling you that something valuable has been touched.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: The feeling matters, but the feeling does not have to make the decision.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: The book of Proverbs chapter 16 verse 32 says, Slow to anger does not mean incapable of anger.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: It does not mean pretending you are fine.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: It does not mean swallowing every feeling so other people never have to be uncomfortable.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: It means there can be space between what rises within you and what you choose to do next.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that space is only one breath.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: In, out.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing magical happens.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: The difficult person is still difficult.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: The unfair sentence was still unfair.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is still there.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: But for one moment, you have remembered that more than one response is possible.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself quietly, what reaction is rising in me?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: What is it trying to protect?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: What is actually happening?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then, what response reflects the person Christ is forming within me?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: That response may still be firm.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: You may need to correct something.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: You may need to say no.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: You may need to set a boundary or leave the conversation.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Chosen responses are not always gentle in tone or easy for someone else to receive.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: The difference is that you are choosing from a deeper center instead of giving
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: the first impulse complete authority.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if you already reacted, this is not a test you failed.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Agency can begin after the reaction too.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can notice what happened.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: You can repair what needs repair.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can learn what the reaction was trying to tell you.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you can practice again.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Freedom is not having no emotion.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Freedom is being able, increasingly, to choose what you do with the emotion you feel.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can feel an emotion without surrendering your choices.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Spirit of Christ, meet me in the moment before habit takes over.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Help me notice anger, fear, and hurt without being ruled by them.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Give me enough space to understand what I am feeling and enough freedom
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: to choose what love and truth require.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And as you move on to what comes next, carry this prayer with you.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I can pause.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And choose my response.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I can pause and choose my response.
• 4:32
  [music]
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open, stay present.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.