Your feelings are not the voice of God. They are an emotional reaction to the moment and can change in a heartbeat.
Imagine you are your spouse are arguing. You have a point that must be made, and it must be made now. You’ve already determined that you are right, and you feel strongly that nothing is more important than defending your point of view. Then imagine that suddenly, your spouse has the look of pain and fear. There is the slap at the chest followed by a collapse to the ground, unconscious. Just half a second ago, nothing was more important that proving your point. Is that still true? (That’s a rhetorical question: If you answered “Yes,” you need to repent).
And what about later? When you go into the ICU, do you approach the bed, pull up an eyelid and say, “OK. You’ve survived. Lets’ pick up where we left off.”
You see, feelings can change in a heartbeat. Since that’s true, why would one make important decisions based on feelings? Decisions ought to be made on something more stable than feelings to experience a more stable life.
Coachees with aMayzing Impact know that decisions based on a chosen mindset leads to stability in life and relationships. Having chosen a mindset of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; and then having the maturity to live out that mindset even when one doesn’t feel like, leads to the stability that people crave.
Capture the negative feeling you have before you react with negative behavior. Consider, “What would be the positive, opposite mindset of that negative feeling?” Choose THAT positive mindset and then behave like THAT person would behave. Whether you get a positive reaction from those around you is secondary to the positive way you can feel about yourself because you responded thoughtfully and positively instead of by your feelings. Your life will be much more stable.
If you have curiosity about how this would look in your life, contact us and we’ll set up a time to pursue that curiosity.