How to Pull Yourself Out of Tough Times and Get Happy Again

Tough times and negative stuff seem to be floating in the air nowadays. Everyone is talking about the recession and how hard things are. But I do believe that perspective has a lot to do with how we feel about what is going on in our lives. I know it sounds a bit clichéd to be saying that to feel better just change your perception but there is no other way to tell you this universal truth:

You get what you think about; you will see in your life whatever you focus on.

I was watching a program on TV last week about a priest who was born deaf and a few years ago he was told he would lose his sight too. He is now completely blind and completely deaf. But to hear him speak about his life you would think he had just won a million dollars on the lottery.

He feels that he was given deafness and blindness by God in order to better minister to other deaf and blind people; this perspective alone on his handicaps have helped him better cope with them. He sees meaning in them; he sees the good he can do as a consequence of having them.

Being able to find positive meaning in whatever we are going through can be a tremendous help in lifting our spirits when we are faced with hard times. When life is tough we all have to reach out for whatever positive ways we can find to make us better cope with life’s difficulties.

For some people religion or a faith in God helps, for others reading inspirational books or being with inspirational people can be helpful too.

It is a shame that we have been brought up in a world where we are taught so little about the way our minds work. We are rarely ever taught at school that if we put positive stuff into our minds on a daily basis that this will seriously affect the way we feel about our lives and the way we cope with difficulty. We are rarely taught that indulging and wallowing in negative thinking can be one of the most dangerous things we can do with our thinking time.

Sometimes it seems to me that we live in a world that is hell bent on showing us as much negativity as possible. What passes for daily news on the TV is a catalogue of all the negative and nasty things that are going on in the world. 99% of world new focuses on the negative.

When times are tough and negativity is in the air we have to muster every positive resource we can. We must learn to wake up and smell the roses again, to appreciate the simple pleasures in life again; to be content with the little things again.

I think tough times come to teach us that we are strong and to teach us to appreciate the many small treasures and pleasures that are all around us that have very little to do with how much money we have.

If you found this article useful you may also like my other article/poem:

• Your Mission Is Possible – Something I wrote when I was struggling to believe in myself and my goals