Book Comment: Making Your Emotions Work For You

Title: Making Your Emotions Work For You
Authoar: Harold J. Sala
No. of pages: 232
Published: 2009
Read: May 31, 2014
★★★

This is one of the hauls I got during the OMF Literature super sale. Finally after several attempts I am finally done reading it. Not that it is not good read but because of things I can't explain this book seems to disappear each time. It is a non-fiction book which I greatly related to. For your information, as this blog attests to, I am an emotional person and chancing upon this book while browsing through the racks of the above mentioned bookstore is an instant "Hello Merie, buy me I know you need me." Nangusap talaga yung libro sa 'kin. True enough I learned quite a lot in this book.

Just as there are many colors, many negative emotions can fill your heart and overwhelm you. Yet no matter how hard you wish that these emotions simply fly away, the only way for you to face them is by learning how to manage them. In fact, you can even use these emotions to your advantage!

In Making Your Emotions Work For You, you will learn how to confront inner challenges and apply biblical principles to unleash God's power in you.

... With insights from God's Word and practical advice from this book, you can learn to make your emotions work for you and become a more positive, confident, and fulfilled person.

So this back-of-the-book summary got me. I know there are a lot of things needed to be worked out in me, most especially my emotions. This book has 11 chapters which starts with helping you understand more who you are and your worth. I must state that this is in a Christian and spiritual perspective which is one reason why I also bought it. Each chapter has "Questions for Thought and Discussion" which was a good aid in self-reflection. It also has some practical guides at the end of each chapter. A chapter is also dedicated for each negative emotion. It gives scenarios and similar biblical stories with an explanation on how the biblical character dealt with it and/or what were the effects of good and bad responses to negative emotions. It also gave real-life situations of people and how they were able to cope or not.

It is a relate-able book. I have learned that I am not the only one going through such emotional tunnels. Reading this book, I appreciated the Bible stories, encouners, characters, and passages related to each emotion. This book will surely be a reference each time I am in an "emotional" state.

My rating would be 3 out of 5 stars. 

The greatest enemies are not the ones out there somewhere, lurking in the dark, awaiting the proper moment to attack me. Rather, they are the ones within.

Do you fully believe you can be different? Instead of being angry with the world because you aren’t six inches taller than you are, that you don’t exactly have an hourglass figure, that your physique doesn’t mirror that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, or whatever, you can work in harmony with the Holy Spirit in developing the kid of personality that lifts you six inches higher, that reveals integrity and strength within, that reflects the handiwork of god both inside and out. Gradually the light comes on – you are one of a kind, a creation of the Almighty, and it’s okay to be you!

When Christ adds Himself to the most insignificant individual, you become a person of value. Redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, you’re now a person of real value.

So don’t give the person permission to make you feel less valuable than how God sees you.

Ego is “Edging God Out”. You will never be able to fully control your environment, and you often cannot change you culture. There will always be people who rub you the wrong way. The weather won’t always suit you,. Neighbors may not please you. But you will never be in a position in which you cannot choose your emotional response o your environment, and this knowledge is liberating.

Refuse to allow bitterness to creep into your life. Remember that you become the loser when you do this.

Not all fear is cowardice. It can be your friend, because it causes you to rise to the challenge, It is when you panic and fail to deal effectively with it that you become its victim.

Rudyard Kipling was right when he wrote, "Of all the liars in the world, sometimes, the worst are you own fears."

When someone is afraid, ridicule, criticism, or minimizing the fear doesn't work. Logic doesn't always work either, because fear is an emotional response; it is not based on reason.

Fear is not something you overcome; it's something you manage.

Life is a matter of choices. Not all of those choices are between good and bad. Each of us must evaluate several good things and then choose the best. Sometimes those choices become difficult. Life is often a compromise between what you would like to do and what you can do.