Breaking The Ice

Every time I turn this on I sift through all my junkmail.  I’m beginning to realise that there’s rarely anything ‘important’ – my ex-boyfriend stays in touch and we exchange plans for world domination, I get occasional correspondance from people I know who like to share photos of themselves doing exciting things in exotic places, but mostly it’s emails from people with names like Melba McKee who want to sell me viagra or penis-enlarging pills.

My all-time favourite was a promise of an ‘emotional volcano’.  I think I’ve met a few emotional volcanoes – people who display tiny ripples on the surface but you can tell there’s a potential natural disaster lurking not too far beneath.  What’s really fascinating is that these people are often unaware of the inner turmoil.  I’m sure you’ve met or know people like this too – you get a glimpse of the chaos when they yell at a red light or curse at an incompetent waiter, completely oblivious to the fact that these outbursts are caused by their own problems, and not the world around them.

It brings me right back to self-awareness, and this:

“Whoever knows essentially his own nature, can know also that of other men and can penetrate into the nature of beings.  He can collaborate in the transformation and the progress of heaven and earth.”  Confucius

And yes, I’m aware that the original email was referring to something completely different.  To be quite honest, I’m not sure that I want emotional volcanoes of any kind in my life right now.  And my own nature?  I don’t know it yet, but I’m learning.