Describe how the goals we choose are related to the emotions we feel. Offer personal illustrations.

[Austin]

The emotions we feel drive the goals we choose which dictates the behaviors we do.

Feeling unseen or unheard can lead to a goal being the center of attention or a goal of being heard.

Feeling abandoned as a child can lead to a goal of either self sufficiency or proving to the world that they worth which can lead to a behavior of over-achiever or a salvation of works.

[Austin]

Uncertain goals produce anxiety, Blocked goals produce anger, and unreachable goals produce self-hatred.

I have a goal of seeing a person come to Christ before their spouse dies. I have no idea if it will happen. I have been waking up ruminating on this.

I have a goal of still enjoying hiking, and my knee is injured. I am angry about this

I must have a goal of being rid of my flesh’s tendency to want approval on this earth, because I often despair of this flaw. It’s an area of self-hatred

[Austin]

I believed the world’s messages …., that materialism and popularity would represent success. So I chose a profession that would enable this, spent time with friends that at the least weren’t counted to this (or worse enabled this), of course these proved empty and self centred, which thankfully seeing Jesus on display in others lives helped me to realise….., praise God 🙏

[Austin]

As a teen I desperately wanted to feel loved. I had accepted Christ at a young age, but had no real discipleship relationships to develope the love of Christ in me, and so my life became a poster of “looking for love in all the wrong places. My “goal” was to find somebody, anybody, who would love me, and found that, or so I thought. This person seemed genuinely loving and kind at first, but then demandms came and the desire to be “loved” created a loss of common sence, and I was driven to keep the realtionship I so thought was the answer to this void. But instead it just cause more damage and hurt and an even deeper sense of “no one will love me, so I must make sure no one can hurt me this way again.” Praise God, Jesus met me in a way I never dreamed possible, but it took years and it is one of the reasons why I want to be a good soul carer, to help others not make these same mistakes, or walk with them when they do.

[Austin]

If we feel abandoned our goal may be to develop a self sufficiency and lifestyle of being an island never depending on anyone else to help us or provide for us. Our feelings of distrust and parents not protecting us and abuse may lead us to feelings of hurt and anger so we may set a underlying goal of always being in charge and controlling our lives and others so as not to get hurt or abused again. Our emotions are the filter for our underlying desires to achieve a goal in a certain way.