Now here’s an irony for you.   Sometimes when I feel anger, stress, resentment, or whatever, I feel mad at myself for having those feelings.  And then I feel angry at myself for feeling mad at myself.  Clearly this spirals downhill very quickly, until I either get absorbed by it or just get tired and laugh at it.  Here’s a new trick I’ve tried to avoid this downward spiral.

I’ve been finding lately that when I find myself sinking into thoughts of stress, resentment, worry, sadness, or whatever, I sometimes think to myself that it’s okay to feel these thoughts.  I don’t try to “should” them away.  Telling myself that I shouldn’t feel some thought is powerless.  But telling myself that it’s okay to feel a thought has power.  Being okay with feelings has the power to further remind myself that it’s my choice, and if I want to feel down, it’s okay.  It’s my choice.  It’s okay, and it’s my choice.  Somehow, at this point, the feeling fades a bit.

This works for me; maybe it’ll work for you too.