The feeling of disappointment is sadness generated by a particular event or series of events. It’s an unpleasant feeling. Here’s a way to get through it more quickly so you can get on with your life.

When you feel disappointed, it’s because you or someone else has let you down. Things did not work out the way you’d hoped. Your expectations were not met. Disappointment is an uncomfortable feeling most people would rather avoid, but sometimes it just turns out that way. When that happens, it’s better to deal with it quickly so that the feeling is completed and disappears.

One of the best things you can do is to walk the disappointment away. Start walking, and imagine that you are releasing the feeling of sadness into the ground with every step. With a little practice, you can actually feel the emotion draining into the earth with every footfall.

You can do this anywhere, though outdoors is preferred. Whether on the earth or the pavement doesn’t matter. Imagine the disappointed feeling as a fluid inside your head and body, a liquid energy that drains away, step by step, as you walk.

Take a step. Feel the sadness pass through the bottom of your foot into the ground. Take another step, and then another.

How long before it’s all gone? Nobody can say for sure. Keep walking until you feel the emotion diminish. Remember to picture that liquid disappointment flowing into the earth with every step. If it comes back later, do it again.

Walking away disappointment is a simple trick that clears current sadness and keeps it from accumulating in your emotional system. You can’t avoid disappointment in life, but you can get through it sooner rather than later so that it doesn’t haunt your thoughts and feelings later on.

Walking can help release other kinds of sadness too. Feel the feeling and walk, walk, walk it away.