I'm a cowboy, baby.

The above has nothing to do with this entry, but it's a good response to the question "Who do you think you are?"

I hope y'all don't mind, but I'm going to share some more from that book I've been re-reading. I'm currently in the chapter entitled "The Art of Reading People: Empathy." In this chapter, Ortberg discusses a term coined by Daniel Goleman. Emotional Economy is "the sum total of exchanges of feeling among us."

Every time two people make contact, they come away feeling either better and more energized or worse and more depleted. It is as if we carry our own little emotional ATMs around with us all the time, and at each encounter we are either making deposits or withdrawls on the vitality of those around us.

I need to better at realizing what people take away from interactions with me. If I'm down, chances are that they are going to walk away from or hang up the phone with just a bit more sadness than when we started our interaction. And I don't necessarily want that to happen. HOWEVER, if we as Christians are supposed to help each other bear their burdens, we are almost required to make emotional withdrawls when we stand by someone hurting or in need. But when we do that, I trust that God will direct deposit funds in our emotional account to strengthen us.

This whole concept of deposits and withdrawls leads to the revelation that there are certain people who are consistent depositors, and certain people who are consistent withdrawlers. Think about the people you enjoy being around and then think about the people you don't enjoy being around. What is it about these folks that attracts/repels you?

There are certain people whose company you love to pick, whose running commentary totally holds your attention, who makes you laugh out loud..
When you have a friend like this, she can say "Hey, I've got to drive up to the dump in Petaluma - wanna come along?" and you honestly can't think of anything in the world you'd rather do. By the same token, a boring or annoying person can offer to buy you an expensive dinner, followed by tickets to a great show, and in all honesty, you'd rather stay home and watch the Jello harden.

True that.