GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out. It's a computer saying, meaning that if you program a computer wrong, all that you get back is wrong. I used to say this all the time to my kids when they were growing up, referring to the multitude of mindless kids' shows on TV which glorified mediocrity, applauded insolence, and condoned lying.
Of course I overdid it, but that's another story.
I was reminded of the principle of GIGO tonight. I'd been somewhere talking to someone and our circumstances were not going according to plan and we had to wait for someone else. I felt irritated, insulted by the people who were inconveniencing us when they knew we would be there at a certain time. I started railing inside at these people, looking for someone to blame, looking to attribute motive to what these folks were doing, rather than take the incident at face value: they were delayed. In the meantime, someone came in wearing a scented product. Oh, this was just ducky. Now a headache on top of it.
Once allowed to continue by this other group, the light blue funk I was in started to deepen in hue, especially since our own time was cut short, and then afterward, someone else assumed that we would do something we had neither the time nor the inclination to do; yet, we found ourselves agreeing to do it. Then the requester found another person who was willing to do it instead. Instead of feeling grateful, I soon found myself talking about this person to someone else - none too flatteringly - and as I walked away from the whole encounter and got into the car, I felt disappointed, soiled, slimy inside. Looking at my behavior the previous 2 hours it wasn't hard to see why.
MY plans had been infringed upon. MY space had been crowded. MY position in the scheme of things had been supplanted.
It was all about me. And then I realized that I'd been feeding garbage to my spirit, allowing it to snarf up a big pile of ego-led nonsense. No wonder I soon felt like yesterday's trash.
As we stopped at a local dairy bar for a small treat, we talked about something good, something uplifting. I could feel my spirit getting lighter, more buoyant. Finally I could see clearly to know what my problem had been. As soon as I identified it out loud to my 'sundae date', there was an immediate sense of "rightness" that came over me. Like Someone inside said, "Yeah....that's it." And I could let the resentment go and focus on the positive instead of the negative. As soon as I did, even the headache started to leave, all on its own.
Well - sort of on its own. I think it had Help.
Of course I overdid it, but that's another story.
I was reminded of the principle of GIGO tonight. I'd been somewhere talking to someone and our circumstances were not going according to plan and we had to wait for someone else. I felt irritated, insulted by the people who were inconveniencing us when they knew we would be there at a certain time. I started railing inside at these people, looking for someone to blame, looking to attribute motive to what these folks were doing, rather than take the incident at face value: they were delayed. In the meantime, someone came in wearing a scented product. Oh, this was just ducky. Now a headache on top of it.
Once allowed to continue by this other group, the light blue funk I was in started to deepen in hue, especially since our own time was cut short, and then afterward, someone else assumed that we would do something we had neither the time nor the inclination to do; yet, we found ourselves agreeing to do it. Then the requester found another person who was willing to do it instead. Instead of feeling grateful, I soon found myself talking about this person to someone else - none too flatteringly - and as I walked away from the whole encounter and got into the car, I felt disappointed, soiled, slimy inside. Looking at my behavior the previous 2 hours it wasn't hard to see why.
It was all about me. And then I realized that I'd been feeding garbage to my spirit, allowing it to snarf up a big pile of ego-led nonsense. No wonder I soon felt like yesterday's trash.
As we stopped at a local dairy bar for a small treat, we talked about something good, something uplifting. I could feel my spirit getting lighter, more buoyant. Finally I could see clearly to know what my problem had been. As soon as I identified it out loud to my 'sundae date', there was an immediate sense of "rightness" that came over me. Like Someone inside said, "Yeah....that's it." And I could let the resentment go and focus on the positive instead of the negative. As soon as I did, even the headache started to leave, all on its own.
Well - sort of on its own. I think it had Help.
yeah, i felt like a bit of a sh#t too. nice to know i wasn't the only one.
ReplyDeleteit's been weeks of 'garbage in' that have been making me question how much more i want to keep trying and trying to "do the right things" and still come out feeling like crap.
but i don't like the 'garbage out' part either...
Someone once said, "Finally, whatever things are good, pure, honest, praiseworthy,... if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things." I think that guy had a handle on the antidote for my bouts of "DRA" - Dirty Rotten Attitude.
ReplyDeleteThe antidote: gratitude. (Ouch.) I have to continually remind myself to keep turning my will and my life over (again) to the care of God and trusting that He's got it covered so I don't have to pick it back up again...so "hands off..." ... or is it "hands up..."??