Life is busy. Life is complicated. People expect. People assume. Circumstances become out of our control. Situations create a sense of a sea of water flooding in around your ankles creeping slowly up and up and up. Breathing becomes heavy the water creeps higher until it feels like it is rising above your mouth. The fear and anxiety of the deluge of pressures create sensations of impending explosion.

Breathe.

Just breathe.

Breathe in deep, sucking the air from God’s air supply.

Breathe out the burdens.

Breathe in God’s strength.

Breathe out the anxiety.

Breathe in God’s peace.

Breathe.

When God’s air supply provides you with the strength and peace that you need you can begin to see clearly evaluating the situation with a clear mind.

Ways to help the overwhelming despair of emotions:

• Allow God to give you what you need.
• Think about what is lovely, admirable and praiseworthy. Don’t focus on the negative.
• Release control of circumstances that you cannot direct.
• Receive God’s strength and hope that God has not the negative emotions from others.
• Believe the best of others. Believe the best of yourself.
• Love others because they are a child of God. Love yourself because He first loved you.

It takes practice. Commit to practice. It is worth it. Breathing deeply, thinking Godly thoughts, releasing control, receiving God, believing the best, and loving others improves relationships and decreases stress. Practicing these allows us to live in a state of heart that makes the world a better place.