Dealing With Disappointment

 Whenever we do something in life with an expectation of how we’d like it to turn out, we risk experiencing disappointment. When things don’t go the way we had envisioned, we may feel a range of emotions from slightly let down to depressed or even angry. We might direct our feelings inward toward ourselves or outward toward other people or the universe in general. Whether we feel frustrated with ourselves, a friend, or life in general, disappointment is always a tough feeling to experience. Still, it is a natural part of life, and there are many ways of dealing with it when we find ourselves in its presence.

As with any emotion, disappointment comes to us for a reason, and we don’t need to fear acknowledging it or feeling it. The more we are able to accept it and process it, the sooner we will move into new emotional territory. As we sit down to allow ourselves to work through the frustrations, we might want to write about the experience — the situation that preceded it, what we were hoping would happen, and what did happen. The gift of disappointment is its ability to bring us into alignment with reality so that we don’t get stuck for too long in the realm of how things might have been.

As we consider other disappointments in our life and how we moved past them, we may see that, in some cases, what happened was actually better in the long run than our original desire. The beauty of disappointment is that it provides us a bridge to its other side — where the acceptance of reality and wisdom, and the energy to begin again can be found. (Daily OM)