Detach from your emotions

In many challenging moments in life I enjoy reflecting on Jesus’ Passion, because it’s metaphoric to what we all go through at times, before a pivotal moment in our lives. All of Jesus’ human life can teach us this, because it’s divinity united in the everyday struggles of humanity for a higher purpose that we in our basic intellect fail to recognize. I’ve discerned writing this with the recent outrage over the Olympics, which is just another day for the world to get riled about something. It then causes fighting and division, which then aligns with the biblical word for Satan as diabolic, meaning divider. This is a blog about business, encouragement and achieving the American Dream, and I want to focus on that using yet another emotional moment for the world.

First as some have understood, should we be surprised by the behavior at the Olympics…..Nope! This is the French culture since the times of “enlightenment and revolution”. At one point the revolution renamed Notre Dame “The Temple of Reason”, this was led by rising atheist belief. Sound familiar in this day and age? That lasted a couple of years and as all things that are anti god/ anti-Christ, they fade away and die as Jesus promises in multiple parables. Some sooner than others. This is life and business too. In the era of social media and click bait news, it’s become quite boring with everyone trying to get attention or get their message heard, only to be forgotten in less than 15 minutes. From terrorism to desecration, whatever it is, there’s an erosion that will only lead to a pitfall like a sinkhole that one day opens up and swallows you up. I have been there countless times, before my epiphany.

This brings me to the business point which is currently happening in America. I continue to watch bankruptcy after bankruptcy happen to these large chains who have moved away from their commitments to the customers, and employees. First to provide consistent product and service, something they claimed small business’ were not doing. Second they claim to be creating jobs, but sadly none pay very well and the only people making a decent living are the investors and employees working in corporate. The boots on the ground get less and less with every bit of inflation and change in society. The problem with this reality is you now pay just as much for something from a chain, maybe more, than you would from an authentic mom and pop place/farmers market.

Two examples I share. I like to go to Dunkin Donuts when I’m on the road, there’s nostalgia for me. However I now pay 2.99 for a 16 oz factory made coffee, which doesn’t taste like it did 2 years ago because their massed produced beans are blended of low quality stuff they can’t control as easily as a small farm. This surprises me since my small business manages to serve the same size coffee, freshly roasted in a pour over for the same price at the moment. There’s a growing population in America doing this. I just went to a Mexican restaurant in Cape May NJ where they were making their tortillas homemade, along with everything else. I hear people mention how for one person at Taco Bell you could go to a sit down restaurant. McDonald’s has experienced this pushback which has brought new price wars among the chains. However everything is just temporary to get us emotional and try them again, only to make us content and take our loyalty for granted.

With this said I want to restate, detach from your emotions in all of these moments. Whether it’s a growing pagan/worldly society mocking Jesus’ Christ and His Church, or it’s mocking the consumer. In my pizza days, every time a little inflation hit, they said “eh let the customer pay for this” or “our competition raised their prices, so are we”. Rarely are they willing to make a sacrifice for others, something else Jesus teaches me in the Passion, to lay down my life and ego for a higher purpose. Very often we don’t think of how we can be a solution to the problem, we just get outraged at what others are doing, and we follow suit. This is where there’s a growing movement, I see it everyday at the farmers markets where small is replacing the big. From hearing farmers who work hard to keep competitive pricing for their fresh produce vs the big stores with not so fresh preserved stuff, to people like myself trying to offer a unique experience for the fraction of the cost in a big city.

In close I want to offer this reflection moving forward in life. While Jesus struggled greatly in the Garden of Gethsemane, once he united His will to the Father’s will, He got up and moved forward. When he was mistreated by society at the time, people of faith (Jews) and people of the world (Gentiles), He didn’t get outraged, but was silent nearly the entire time, knowing something greater would come for those who trust and believe, The Resurrection. As we reflect on the power behind this “Last Supper” image I was reminded of a couple things that should outrage us more.

First is Leonardo Davinci painted this picture before the Reformation era. This means it was only a Roman Catholic and Orthodox world. This means everyone who claimed to be Christian believed what was being portrayed in the image of The Last Supper, The Eucharist, The Real Presence of God among us, the Logos. Sadly 30% of Catholics believe this today. Just like our Constitution, there’s a great confusion to the original foundations, and this is where outrage should be if any. If the world understood the Eucharist fully, there would be peace everywhere, because you can’t receive Jesus if you are fighting with your brethren, and if you love God, you do anything to reconcile and receive the Lord, marriage is teaching me this currently. Over my years roaming 500-1000 Catholic Churches, I see all nations as the Bible promises, being One and Holy despite differences. It’s why I choose to participate in liturgy everyday. I want that peace in my life and the world around me.

Second is disunity in Jesus. Whether you Muslim, Christian or Jew, God has a plan for you. A couple days after this, a guy came to my market, who I enjoy talking to, but he was unfortunately raised Catholic, as I was, and had a misunderstanding of what the Church actually teaches. I empathize with the misunderstandings the led him to fall away and currently participates in another church. However he finds it necessary to justify what he believes to me, but saying things that aren’t true and trying to antagonize me. This was a reminder of what happened at the Olympics and our society. These things should unify us, but sadly we let our emotions divide us.

This can happen in our business as well when we choose to only serve certain people based on our agenda or identities, instead of serving the human beings that come to our establishment. I pray everyday we lower the rhetoric, things never improve otherwise. There’s a great Buddhist saying I enjoyed early on in my return “He who kicks dirt is losing ground”. Be light in the world, and let God cast away the darkness as He always does. I remain hopeful, because similar struggles culturally and politically were happening during Jesus’ time on earth. In all things, He wants us to turn back to Him and trust, instead of the current culture and politics that leave us disappointed.

I originally saw this image when I visited a religious group in Chicago December 2013 and took a picture since I loved the unique interpretation of the energy around The Last Supper. As Pope Benedict put it best to describe the Logos, The Creative Logic behind all of Creation, becomes one of us. Then He points us to the perfection of this life if we choose to follow. My own life is a testimony to this, when I turned away (repent) from my old ways, it made way for a new way and creation that cleared 15 years of deep dark depression, and this amazing journey I am blessed to share.