Re-lapse: "Have you really lost it this time?!" Re-visiting "losing it!" And other Catch Phrases.

From the looks of it: Well, from where I sit, as in the driver's seat...literally -- as we were making our way to a family birthday party across town, making decent time, despite some unexpected Sunday construction project -- unexpected by us but not by Siri, who navigated us through and around it. All well and good UNTIL, like two 'bats out of hell' !! come two high performance cars speeding by us as if we were 'moving like molasses', as if we were imitating 'Sunday drivers'...and then there were three! Hopscotching through traffic, creating a hazard for all; at least they were now in front of us where we could keep an eye out, but how many more might be behind us? Which prompted a grandson in the car to exclaim "How illegal; the police should see this!" Which prompted me to muse what might have motivated such a reckless act putting so many lives at risk...which in turn caused a momentary lapse in our previous convo about 'who knows what' and then an opportunity, as I was looking for some fresh material for this blog of mine/ours, a great 'teachable moment' a re-turn to what 'losing it' is all about, which set my mind to meander, about what would just what might be motivating these now infamous (at least in my car) vehicles, in...

Plotting a hazardous course: as I've mentioned here and there, regardless of the type of emotion, feeling, driving them to place themselves and others at risk...whether it started with an iteration of 'road rage' (coined in the early 80's but earlier well represented by some other terms that my father emitted when referring to such drivers we came upon, or came upon us, occasionally...#%^&*!!!) OR instigated by an apparently less harmful "catch me if you can!" playful spirit -- either one, not 'tempered' by cognition ("what were they thinking?!") can have equally deleterious, even disastrous outcomes...

Losing it, Sirius-ly: No laughing matter, this. That is, when people tell you or, probably more often, me, that they are "losing it" what they are referring to, of course, the "It", is their minds. As I shared with you here many months ago now, earlier in my career I tended to take a 'placation, equivocation' approach, as in "Awe, come on, you can't actually lose it; it's gotta be somewhere, we can find it..." which evolved to something more on the 'truth be told' level as in "Something just as powerful as losing your mind is happening when you give in to such emotions, in that your normally gifted mind is losing to your feelings" which came to, as my career evolved further (especially after they became mandatory, as in "click it or ticket")...."and if you're gonna let your feelings prevail under such circumstances you better put on a strong safety belt, as you're about to go on a wild ride..." Going full circle, back to the matter at hand, as our other grandson commented offhandedly to his brother's exclamation...a catchy word on such a hazardous game of catch..."Literally".