Emotion and Feelings : Finding What Hope is
Have you ever wondered what to do with the big emotion and feelings that you experience? Maybe today you have experienced a long feelings and emotions list. Or maybe your child or your student is dealing with feelings of emptiness or feelings of sadness?
How can we focus on finding hope in times of despair? Are there ways that we can be beacons of hope to our families and to our students (and even to ourselves)?
We all experience big feelings at times. Think about the last few years. We’ve all just been through a pandemic. Some of us (and some of our students) have had the support that we needed to manage emotion and feelings with family or with a community of people. Maybe when we’ve encountered anxious feelings, we’ve felt safe to talk to those trusted people in our community.
Some of us, though, (and some of our students) may not have had this safety net. Some are trying to manage these big feelings on our own. The last few years have been isolating. How can we support each other during this time? Who are the safe people in your life?
We’ve been through a pandemic, but let’s face it…sometimes life just gets us down (even before this virus).
Maybe as you’ve walked through life with others in the community, you’ve gotten your feelings hurt.
How many times have we supported a group of students on the playground or at lunch because they’ve needed help with a social situation? Emotion and feelings often run high during social interactions! Did you help them see that hope can be restored?
How can we lean into the community around us when emotions are big? Look around you. Who can you be the body of Christ to?
Remember the acronym HOPE.
Honesty
Name what you’re feeling.
Think about your story-where have you been?
Where are you now? Where do you hope to go?
Omnipresence
Remember God’s constant presence with you.
He promises to NEVER leave us!
People
Move towards other people in the body of Christ.
We need each other!
Allow others to remind you of God’s truth.
Eternal Perspective
Remember that this world is not all there is.
Christ died for us so that we could live eternally.
“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.” (Ephesians 1:18- NLT)
He has called us to a new and confident hope in Him. Are you sharing this hope now with those God has placed in your path?
Stop for a minute and think about who He has placed in your community?
One way to practice these skills would be to use these printable dice games and questions to discuss ways to find hope. Use in a small group or with your family or your class or your church group. These games will help to find words that describe feelings. The discussions will give you opportunities to encourage your students in their expressed feelings and point them to Christ.