Acknowledge and Re-focus

Its okay to feel anger, disappointment, and hurt. After all, God created us with emotions. But its how we handle them that makes the difference. Often times we choose to dwell on our anger or our hurt which turns to anger. Here’s what God shared with me: acknowledge your feelings then re-focus. Its like someone telling you not to think about pink elephants. No matter how hard you try, you still think about pink elephants. The only way to not think of them is to refocus your thoughts. Start thinking about what to have for dinner and soon you will find that you are no longer thinking of those elephants.

That same principle works with our emotions. When something angers you, hurts, you, or disappoints you, acknowledge it. Allow yourself to feel that emotion for no more than 3 mins. (Which is actually a long time, just sit still for 3 mins and see how long it feels.) Then start thinking about how God has blessed you, about His greatness, His mercy, His love. Soon you will have gotten past all those ugly feelings. One thing I have discovered since putting this into action is that there is great freedom in allowing yourself to be angry, hurt, upset, etc. And my 3 mins has not lasted more than about 30 seconds.