Leverage Your Inner Resources to Evolve: 3. Embrace positivity

Embrace positivity and find things to be grateful for

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No matter your strengths, values, or sense of purpose, you still have to find ways to be happy. Happiness is a fuel that gives you energy to keep on going. Of course, happiness isn’t necessarily the only motivating force, but it sure is an extremely effective one and is by far the easiest to make use of. So, you need to define your bliss and your flow.

Think back on the last moment you remember feeling unhappy. What thoughts went through your mind? How did you feel physically? Now think back on a similar external situation, but one in which you were happy. How were your thoughts different? How did you feel different physically?

Cultivating Happiness

There are a few ways to embrace happiness:

a) Being in a positive, hopeful and optimistic frame of mind. Being optimistic is not all about telling yourself that everything is awesome all the time. It is about having the confidence of knowing that everything will work out with the right attitude and effort. It is a commitment and belief that things will turn out well, instead of slumping into stifling darkness.

b) Making the most of any situation you are in, by seeking possibilities and/or solutions, and taking action to better your situation.

c) Practicing gratitude. Being grateful is being thankful and happy for what you have. We don’t need to be rich or have lots of material possessions to be grateful. Being grateful is the acknowledgement of the things in your life that are positive, and knowing that no matter how bad our situation is, it could be a lot worse (but isn’t). Everything is temporary, nothing is permanent. When you suffer, just remember that such suffering will pass as the whirlwind of life’s circumstances changes yet again. This doesn’t discredit your suffering, but being willing to move with life through its ups and downs (rather than wallowing in despair) will help you move past life’s ruts a little easier.

For example, someone was laid off work. In the short term, this does create financial uncertainty through the loss of income. However, by embracing optimism and being willing to move on, that person may be able to find a new job with improvements over the old one.

Or, the situation may give the person the courage to rekindle a childhood dream they’d given up in pursuing.

Or, they now have time between jobs that could be used to travel, spend quality time with loved ones, or just rest and recuperate their mental energies. The situation may even be a catalyst for more careful or creative financial solutions, which would benefit that person in the long term.

Be grateful

As a practice, it is worth creating a gratitude journal daily:

— Keep track of what you are happy about

— Note down what you are grateful for

— Celebrate how you have turned some situations around for the better

— Define the silver linings of a seemingly bad situation or things you can be thankful for

Learn to recognise and be thankful for what you have rather than fixating on what you don’t have all the time. Feeling stuck finding things to be grateful for? Imagine what would it be like not to have something that you have right now. It may be something you take for granted.

Just remember that there is always something good to be thankful for no matter what situation you are in. Be aware of such blessings, acknowledge and be thankful for them. Always focus on what you can do, rather than on what you can’t do.

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