You recommend that we shift attention away from the negative feeling. How is this different from repressing the feeling?
Repression is an unconscious process by which unaccepted feelings are put out of awareness and not dealt with. In shifting attention, you make a choice not to indulge the negative emotion. You have already acknowledged and accepted the feeling within yourself as part of being human, but you are choosing to let it go because you want something higher, like peacefulness, harmony, and getting the job done. People will sometimes shift their attention by way of actions such as rearranging the furniture a little bit, opening and closing the window shades, making a quick trip to the bathroom, or going for a short coffee break.
These actions allow for a moment to shift from the negative to the positive.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 21, pg. 313