Letting Go of Negative Emotions

One of the things I most appreciate about God is how He uses truth to help us see life from His perspective so we can let go of those negative emotions that rob our joy.

Here’s the basic (but not easy) process if you want to work on your emotions:

  1. Set a manageable goal (see below).
  2. Renew your mind every time you experience the emotion in that situation. Here is a post on the renewing of the mind: The Renovation of the Mind.
  3. Accept what you need to accept (see below).
  4. Move on.

Manageable Goals

The first thing you need to do is choose a manageable goal. Here’s an example:

Let’s say you have a tendency to worry about everything and anything under the sun. Rather than renewing your mind every time you’re worried, start with one situation. Make a commitment to renew your mind every time that particular worry comes up.

For ideas on how to renew your mind, see the posts in the Renewing of the Mind Tools category over on the right. You may also want to check out my weight loss app as it contains a whole section on negative emotions with Bible verses and questions that will help you renew your mind.

Accept What You Need to Accept

Renewing your mind will help you get rid of the lies that are fueling your emotions, but it won’t solve all your problems. That’s why it’s so important to accept what you need to accept to move on in life.

Here’s an example: let’s say you’re worried about the future of your country. You can replace lies with truth, which will help, and you can also get involved in politics and try to make a difference.

But in the end you’ll still have to face the fact that you have no control over what happens to the country.

If you want to break completely free from worry, you’ll have to accept the fact that yes, something terrible might happen, and if it does, you won’t be able to do a thing about it.

What???

I know, that sounds unacceptable, but it’s true: you can’t control everything in life. Sometimes bad things happen, and there’s nothing you can do about it. In those situations, you have two choices:

  1. Accept it with a good attitude.
  2. Accept it with a bad attitude.

It’s a lot easier to accept bad things with a good attitude if life is about God. Renewing my mind always helps me remember that life is about God. And that makes it easier to accept the unacceptable.

If you’d like to work on breaking free from your negative emotions, check out the Renewing of the Mind project tab and follow its suggestions or the emotions category over on the right. You may also want to look at my Bible study, Freedom from Emotional Eating, as it contains several chapters on the emotions.