Which are you?

"Be a thermostat, not a thermometer." Which of these devices are you? They both represent something factual, convey information and can change but what are their real differences? And do they matter?

A thermometer tells you what the temperature is, reporting an external condition. As that changes the thermometer changes, influenced by outside forces.

A thermostat tells you what the temperature should be, reporting a desired condition. The thermostat controls the forces external to it to yield the desired condition.

When your life is uncomfortable and you are dealing with its "bad weather", are you a thermometer or thermostat? Do ever changing, external forces change you? Or do you set the temperature and work to influence things to bring them closer to you?

Advice my mother repeatedly gave me growing up was, "You can control your emotions. You are in charge of how you decide to react to things and your feelings. No one person or event should force you to feel a certain way. You decide, you, not just reacting out of control."

The number on a thermostat or thermometer are both true. But how the number got there is a much different story.

Be the thermostat.