Developing Darren

I don’t know what you’re feeling, and how overwhelming it might be, or what those feelings make you want to do. But take a breath – literally – deeply inhale and exhale, and think about the reality of the situation. Is it something you can change? What can you change? Is it out of your control? What are the facts? If you can’t figure that out – ask someone who’s not close to the situation. If it’s out of your control, how do you move forward? What’s the next step?

Feelings have a nasty way of taking over areas of life they weren’t supposed to have a say in. Family drama seeps into workplace attitudes, painful relationships bleed into callings and purposes, disappointments cause rifts in spiritual lives, and the loss of loved ones creates energy cavities that open up again just when you think they’re fixed.

Here’s a life hack: You can play the system! Negative feelings have that seeping effect, but often so do positive feelings. Appreciating your blessings, realizing the love that you have from those still present, fulfilment from accomplishing your goals, understanding the all encompassing and redeeming love of God – these can all overflow into other areas of life as well. Facts must always be used to inform the validity of our feelings, but the trick is that we get to choose which facts to focus on, the positive or the negative.