Counter-regulation hypothesis posits that the current affective state drives attention to upcoming emotional stimuli of opposite valence. The presence of such an effect was tested on healthy persons performing a short mental time-travel exercise. After induction of anger by autobiographical recall, participants (N=24) were instructed to either immerse themselves in the event (IP) or to refocus on a positive event from a distanced perspective (PTR). This procedure was repeated in the second part, counterbalancing the order of interventions. We applied a symmetry judgment task with a concurrent but task-irrelevant emotional distractor to investigate whether mental time-traveling modulated attention towards emotional information. Participants were instructed to judge the symmetry of three letters that either formed a symmetric (e.g., XXX) or asymmetric stimulus (e.g., XHH). Each trial presented a task-irrelevant emoji, either happy or angry, above the judgment stimulus. Additionally, we administered the action-control scale at the outset. PTR but not IP reduced state anger (g= -1.7 vs. 0.18). Consistent with a planned counter-regulation contrast, angry emojis slowed responding relative to smileys in the PTR condition, whereas a small reversed effect occurred in the IP condition (t(22)=2.23, p=.037. This distraction pattern was more distinct for action orientated persons (t(22)=2.30, p=.031) compared to state-oriented persons (t(22)=0.67, p=.510). Results are consistent with a counter-regulation interpretation. Action orientation seems to promote emotion-regulation by guided mental time-traveling. Further studies are needed to replicate the effect of PTR and to investigate whether it is a consequence of the reduced anger or directly stems from the intervention.