Emotional and Mental Health - Emotional Climate

There are varying degrees of emotion in the human realm. We are not simply angry, sad, happy or fearful. We could be furious or irritated, overwhelmed with grief or unhappy, overjoyed or tickled, horrified or wary or any degree in between.

The fact is that positive emotions give birth to other positive emotions and negative emotions promote more negative feelings. Our thoughts feed off one another, and our thoughts and emotions influence our behavior.

Our negative emotions can affect our body's health as well, with psychosomatic illnesses. These are very real issues with no physical cause and can influence the longevity of our life.

Yet, when our attitude swings toward the positive, these same diseases disappear and our health actually improves dramatically. God gives us negative emotions to warn us of an unresolved conflict in our soul. It pays to pay attention to and to resolve these issues quickly.

Emotion is not influenced much by economic standing, relational status or our collection of material possessions. We can be happier as a poor person than a rich one, single rather than married, or in a one bedroom cottage instead of a mansion.

One person with horrendous life circumstances can be happier than someone who enjoys perfect health and material prosperity. Genetics even play a part in our overall satisfaction with life.

Melancholy personalities have a hard time seeing anything except through the filter of their negative persona; yet phlegmatic people will often view even the worse of circumstances with a positive outlook.

We tend to avoid people who are determined to see life negatively. Their favorite topics of conversation are their poor health and how unfair life is to them. They shoot holes in our hopes and dreams and bring us down to their level.

The presence of God's Spirit in our spirit is the biggest controller of our emotions; however, we also have the power to choose what our mind dwells on and what we allow to influence our life.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that negative attitudes and feelings will prevent us from walking in Your Spirit (Galatians 5:15-25). They often deny us the opportunity to achieve Your preordained will for our life (Ephesians 2:10). We want to walk in Your ways and avoid the pitfalls caused by prolonged negative emotions

Help us to develop positive habits that will breed contentment and serenity. Cause us to take frequent moral, emotional and physical inventories in order to have the opportunity to bring any issues to You for resolution. Thank You for abiding in us and with us and for not forsaking us on this earth.

Thought for the Day:

As we face the sun (and the Son), we see a bright future and the only shadows in our life end up being behind us; people will remember us more for our attitude about life than for what we actually say and do.

The Healing Journey - Part 3 - Dwelling with Understanding

Eighteen months after my marriage dissolved, God introduced me to a loving man who was also rejected by his former mate. It was not long before I fell back into my old schizophrenic habits whenever I felt fearful and insecure.

Rather than to reject me, he dwelt with me with understanding and helped me to heal from this inappropriate behavior and to learn new habits.

First, he taught me to gather all of the facts when I felt slighted, wounded or harmed by his behavior. He insisted that he would never purposely hurt me, so I needed to discuss my feelings with him right away in order to get clarification and assurance.

He asked me not to allow my feelings to build up until the last straw and then to blow up like a volcano, but to share with him as they were happening.

We soon discovered that I often did share my feelings appropriately, but he did not always take them seriously. As a man, he did not see the relevance of some of my feelings and just ignored them.

This revelation taught him to start listening to me more earnestly. Also, I learned to discern when his ears were disengaged; so rather than blow up I would jokingly say, "Are you going to pay attention, or do I have to pull out my Italian temper?"

This reminded him to help me to resolve the issues that bothered me. He realized that if they were important enough for me to communicate them, then they were important enough for his full attention.

He learned to have compassion for my concerns, even if he saw them as inconsequential. He made an effort to stop making decisions that affected my life without discussing them with me first. I felt more understood, less fearful and less insecure.

Divorce is never an option, because there is no disagreement that cannot be resolved. God brought us into a new and deeper union with one another and with Him, than we ever thought possible on this side of heaven.

We do not take one another for granted and we nurture and enjoy each other. We make a great team as mates and as co-workers in the Kingdom of God. Together, we are learning to hear and to follow the leading of God's Spirit even in the minutest details of life.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for bringing two rejected individuals together, to help one another to heal, to grow in our relationship with You and one another, and to work together as we bloom where You plant us. Teach us to continue to live in harmony, and to love and appreciate one another as our personality needs to be loved.

( http://www.5lovelanguages.com/profile/ )

Thank you for using us as examples of a loving relationship to inspire other couples to lay down their life for one another and to mutually submit to one another as co-heirs with Christ (Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 3:7). We cherish our relationship with You now and we look forward to eternity in Your presence as well.

Thought for the Day:

As we maintain a pure heart before the Lord, He makes all thing beautiful in their time. - Ecclesiastes 3:11

A Reasoned Response

Most of my answers are soft (Proverbs 15:1); however, my life was filled with people who took me for granted and ignored me unless I YELLED and unleashed the full fury of my Italian wrath every once in a while.

I always wanted to have a sweet response when someone stepped on my last nerve, or yanked my chain one too many times, but people tended not to take me seriously unless I yelled.

Therefore, when the people in my life changed, I had to practice giving soft answers, to practice choosing to give a reasoned response, rather than letting my emotions build within me until I simply exploded (Psalm 116:7).

In the ensuing years, God allowed my children to grow up into responsible adults who live in their own homes. He also gave me a husband who nurtures and cherishes me.

God helped me to understand that I do not need wrath to get my point across. All I need to do is to quietly say, "I really want you to take me seriously, and listen to what I am saying."

Our authority is in Christ, not in our self or the intensity of our words. In Christ, quietness is our confidence and strength (Isaiah 30:15, 32:17). When two people disagree, they can always find a compromise.

When we speak with God's authority instead of our own, people listen. We get the person's attention, share our needs and then relax in quietness and confidence that the Lord will fight for us, as we wait on Him (Exodus 14:14).

We can trust that God already placed the seed for a miracle in every trial, which we will ever encounter. If we water this seed with faith, patience and confidence in God's faithfulness, a beautiful plant of blessing will grow.

Prayer:
Father God, remind us that Satan battles for our soul through our mind, choices and emotions. He knows he already lost our spirit to You, but he wants to destroy our soul, and our witness for You (Proverbs 34:13). Help us to choose to step out of our self-effort and into Your authority by the guidance of Your Spirit (Proverbs 16:23; Isaiah 45:22).

Wounds from our past and ever-occurring wounds in our present life - being belittled, discounted, deprived emotionally or physically, abandoned, insecure and frightened in our heart - will manifest in our words.

Yet, as we trust You, You help us to heal from our wounds. We will dwell in security and rest (Isaiah 32:18). May our thoughts and words be pleasing to You as we rely on You as our rock and Redeemer (Psalm 20:14).  

Thought for the Day:

As God heals the wounds in our soul, as we relinquish our pet peeves and idols to Him, as we surrender control of our life to Him and realize that nothing can happen to us that is not already part of His plan for us (Isaiah 7:4), then we can think and speak quiet, confident thoughts rather than broiling negative emotions.