Category: Mental Health

How Can You Be Grateful In Difficult Times?

When things are going well for you, things to be grateful for may seem fairly obvious. But when things aren’t going so well?

When you are happy — or at least, content — with your life, being thankful is fairly straightforward. What are you happy about? How did that happiness come about? The answers can be the target of your gratefulness.

However, when you are struggling, things aren’t so easy. If your life is in shambles, finding something to be grateful for may be challenging. There are several reasons why this may be so.

First of all, it might be the case that the problems you face are numerous, and in all walks of life. Trouble with your job, your family, your health, and your finances may not leave you with many bright spots.

Even if that isn’t the case, it might feel like it. Problems always seem much bigger that opportunities. Even if you have areas of good fortune, it might be difficult to see them.

And even if you can see them, you might feel like it is inappropriate to acknowledge them. How can I be happy about my good health, for example, if I can’t find a job? It might feel disrespectful, or inappropriate, to be celebrating in times of sorrow.

So how can you manage it? How can you recognize the good that surrounds you, even in the dark? And how can you be thankful, and display it, in a way that is appropriate and helpful? How can you be grateful in difficult times?

Related questions: What are you grateful for? How do you show thanks? What does it mean to be thankful? What are the benefits of expressing gratitude?

What Do You Do To Shake Off A Bad Mood?

Everyone gets in a bad mood every so often. When that happens, how do you get yourself out if it?

Share why if you wish.

How’s It Going?

In order to improve your life, sometimes you first need to evaluate your life. With that in mind, how’s it going?

In life, it is easy to get caught up worrying about the future. In particular, at this moment in time, the future is very uncertain.

For instance, there is an important election coming up. What will happen if my side wins, and what if they lose? There are also other existential threats, from A.I. to climate change to global conflicts.

There are also more personal level concerns. Maybe you are worried about the future of your job, or your kids, or your health, or something else entirely.

You might also be obsessive about the past, even if you can’t do anything about it. A contentious conversation may play over and over in your head. Or you may have regret over a mistake you made, or a snarky comment you said in passing.

To prevent these unhelpful thoughts, it might help to take stock of your current situation. In this moment, right now, how do you feel? Why do you feel that way? Does it make sense? Is it helpful, and is it productive?

Knowing your present state might help you to calm down. However, being aware of your inner state, your thoughts and feelings, is absolutely crucial to your future self. In order to become the person you want to be, you need to know who you are first.

This is a skill that not many people develop. The ability to think about yourself, to evaluate why you say what you say and act the way you do is difficult. It is also valuable, both to yourself as well as to the people around you.

In addition to this introspection, we also are checking in on our readers. With that in mind: How’s it going?

Related questions: How are we doing? What are you thinking about? How do you feel? How can we appreciate life more?

What Are The Benefits Of Expressing Gratitude?

There are many self-help outlets — books, blogs, podcasts, and so on — that advocate regular expressions of gratitude. Why?

Expressions of gratitude can come in many different forms. They can be private expressions, in your head while you are meditating, for example. Or they can be public, directly to the person or object being thanked, or even to an entire audience of people.

You may have practiced these displays yourself. (If not, surely your imagination will suffice.) When you think, write, or speak your affirmations, what happens? What changes might take place, both within you, in the subject of your gratitude, and within society at large?

There are surely some benefits for this behavior, or else it would not be recommended by so many people in so many outlets. In your experience, what benefits come from expressing gratitude?

Related questions: What are you grateful for? What does it mean to be thankful? How could you show your appreciation for others more? What are our responsibilities to others?

What Is The Biggest Challenge Faced By Today’s Youth?

Humans face a number of challenges. Young people, in many cases, are impacted to a greater extent than their older counterparts. What is the biggest challenge today’s youth faces?

There is no doubt that young people of today are faced with big problems.

For instance, social media has been shown to be quite harmful to the developing brain. Previous generations did not have to grow up in the social media age.

Many schools practice active shooter drills in case of a a gun-wielding attacker. Adults, in particular politicians, seem incapable of doing anything to actually make schools safer places to be.

Similarly, the economic outlook for a young person in today’s society is troubling. Soaring college costs leave them drowning in student debt, with the very real prospect of having to postpone buying a house or starting a family. Not to mention the prospect of possible failure of programs like Social Security.

The rapidly-improving Artificial Intelligence could mean major changes to jobs and the workforce. And some public figures are even sounding alarms that A.I. could pose a threat to humans as a species.

The bitterly-divided political parties would seem to be bringing about a failure in our governmental institutions. Regardless of the winner of the next presidential election, there may be widespread unrest, protests, and perhaps even violence.

On the environmental front, climate change and the resulting effects pose an existential threat. Each year is hotter than the last, with more extreme weather. Ecosystems are collapsing, with species going extinct. That’s a problem for all of us, but surely it’s a bigger problem for someone expecting to live, say, seventy five more years vs twenty five.

As a result of all these troubles, it is not surprising that such a large percentage of young people suffer from mental health issues. Today’s youth faces problems from personal to societal to existential. What do you think is their greatest challenge?

Related questions: What is the greatest problem facing humanity? Will the future be better than the present? What do we owe the future?