Emotional Electricity

I met Eric Hales while working at the MTC and he immediately became what I consider a dear friend, even though when it comes right down to it, I actually know very little about him. But I do know he is very genuine, kind, fun, and impressively spiritual. He was and continues to be a great example to me. He has a wonderful blog on which he publishes spiritual thoughts and insights - things he's learning. The blog is erichales.blogspot.com. Check it out. You won't be sorry.

Today he posted a quote by Elder Neal Maxwell that really hit me. Here it is:

"We may not know how to account for our moods at times, but the fact that these moods pass through us ought not to destabilize us so far as the deep doctrines of the Church are concerned. If down moods cannot be driven out at once, we can at least accelerate their transit times.

"It is so easy for one person's bad day to become another person's bad day. A spreading electrical power outage ends up affecting everybody, because early on, the discipline required was abandoned in favor of passing the problem along. Emotional electricity is much like the real thing.

"In any objective assessment of life, we can always be reassured as to the things that matter most: Immortality is ours through the gift and grace of Jesus Christ; there is a loving, caring Father in heaven; and we will live eternally under His perfect rule. We have such high promises and absolutely no reason for ultimate discouragement. Therefore, proximate pessimism ought not to envelop us. We ought not to be blitzed by our moods."
 
I was first so grateful for that first line. The fact that we feel sad or down or even straight-up moody (as is often the case with me) doesn't mean we're bad people, that we're living life wrong, or even that the things we believe in and form our life upon are not true. It's ok to experience those feelings. That's part of life. An intentional part. But how we deal with those moods and whether or not we allow others to be affected by them is within our control and will ultimately determine our destiny. We can choose to overcome our feelings or we can choose to be overcome by them. We can choose to be "things to act" or "things to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:14). We can choose to be either. But we were created to be things to act. We do not have to be subject to our emotions or our surroundings. That is not the destiny God created us to have.
 
This is something that is so hard for me. I'm quite an emotional person and it is so difficult for me to choose to change my mood. My emotions are powerful and it's frustrating for me to admit that I often allow myself to be acted upon by them. But I know I can choose. For now, I will choose to try.