Life is filled with tragedies and hardships. We all have experiences in life where we lose our temper or spend time fretting over things to the point where we are unable to sleep.
Many of us believe that when things go wrong it's the world's fault and it is the world that is causing our suffering. What we fail to realize, is that it is often our response to the cards we've been dealt, that is as much a part of our suffering.
It is therefore important that we observe our own reactions to our hardships and see how much of the experience is further negatively impacted by our own response to life's events.
What causes us the real agony is our dwelling on things and replaying situations or annoying incidents allowing them to drill down into our brains and then we grant them the power to poison our lives.
Getting stuck in loops can be a problem for us all but with some effort on our part, we can redirect so that life's setbacks aren't as damaging as they might be.
History Is Over
You can't change history, you can only change tomorrow. So if it's our responses to problems that compound the original set back we need to address how we react to the difficulty.
I've heard it said that you need to do what you can, with what you have, where you are in your life right now. So by refusing to play the victim of injustice, we cease to wallow in self-pity and begin to rise to the challenge. Then by taking some form of practical action it will help us to believe we can begin to change things. Start to look at what you can control and don't waste time over what you can't.
Things Could Be Worse
If we accept it's not the event but our reaction to it that's the problem, we start to minimize the harm and use the energy we no longer waste in positive ways. If we don't let something crush us it strengthens us – we start to bounce back, we don't break.
When there is a gap between what we have and what we want it leads to disappointment. If we manage the gap between expectation and reality by being grateful for what we already have it helps. But when we take this one step further and imagine how would we react if we lost what we value, it teaches us a great lesson in appreciation.
Negative Visualization
We can apply the practice of negative visualization to all areas of our lives. For example, when it comes to our personal finances, in certain situations it is obvious why we need to cut our spending. It's easy to understand what the negative impact of not doing so will have on our daily life.
But beyond this, it becomes less clear why we should save for the future when money is tight and spending today can give us an immediate burst of pleasure. Negative visualization can be a method for improving our attitude and our wealth. If we practice visualizing how our lives could be if we don't make good financial decisions along the way, the picture can be pretty grim. This can help us to realize the importance of saving money now, even on a tight budget. It can help us to make better choices now, which will point us towards a better future.
Actively thinking about what we can do in order to embrace this one life, we need to learn to savor and appreciate all we have now and live the fullest life possible leaving no room for regret or disappointment.
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