I adore Calvin and Hobbes and love that Bill Watterson based on them on two famous philosophers!
I was reminded of this famous Calvin and Hobbes cartoon recently by Francis Briers, who facilitated an amazing leadership experience called “Samurai Games”.
Francis speaks and teaches of somatic presence and spoke of this during the two days our group was with him. Thank you, Francis, for your teaching and your modelling of what you taught. I learned a lot.
Now, back to the Calvin and Hobbes quote, which is a reminder that we exist in our bodies as well as our minds.
When we have got upset, our body has responded to various triggers that have built up and, at that stage, rational language and thinking is not the way to change your emotional state.
What might work?
As a father, it never worked to tell my boys when they were younger and upset to “calm down”. Often I’d send them to their room for a time out before going up to talk to them. In doing that, often I needed that “time out” as much as the child!
In that time, simply taking time out of the conversation helps. Perhaps added to that some deep breathing, or even changing focus to looking out of the window and focussing on the view.
Whatever you do, be conscious of your “state” and that it is embodied in you. Thinking your way out of a feeling is likely not the way to go!