Seja grato, mesmo com as provações e tribulações da vida

It’s important to remember that we can be thankful for literally anything and everything. Of course, we can be thankful for our friends and family, for our significant other, or our children. We can be grateful for our job, home, and pets. But we can also be thankful for a talent, ability, or our knack for comforting others. And even for trials and tribulations. It’s important to get into the habit of practicing gratitude and to remember to be thankful for both blessings and challenges.

That’s right, you can be thankful for hard times and for those who have caused you pain.

In fact, it’s healthy to learn how to be thankful for these things. Learning to express gratitude for experiences that may otherwise break us will help us persevere through the toughest times in our lives and make it to the other side relatively unscathed and stronger, rather than weakened in the battle.

It’s all about reframing our perspective. Instead of allowing a disheartening person, place, or thing to bring us down, we can actively embrace our trials and find the good interwoven in the bad. There is good in every situation, after all, and we will find it if we dig deep enough.

É mais fácil falar do que fazer, certo?

Perhaps. But, being able to find positivity is a learned behavior we can benefit from and grow through. Harboring ill will and resentment toward those who’ve hurt us is literally bad for the soul. It can hamper our health—physically, mentally, and emotionally. And allowing it to linger and fester inside will continue to hurt us long after it has left the mind of the offender. Therefore, we’re left empty and consumed, carrying the weight alone, because the individual who brought it about has likely long since moved on.

Not only is it unfair to continue to feel afflicted long after this has left the mind of the offender but feeling this way can induce long-lasting depression and anger issues that will inevitably affect interactions with others and limit our ability to feel socially connected. Therefore, we will begin to disconnect from the world around us – or it will disconnect from us – and total isolation is the most painful place to be.

Então, como é que podemos aprender a amar os nossos inimigos, como se costuma dizer? Ou, pelo menos, dar alguns passos de bebé no sentido de libertar o ressentimento de uma vez por todas, para que possamos alcançar a paz interior?

Praticar a atenção plena e a atenção ao coração pode ajudar. O pensamento consciente pede-nos que consideremos como nos sentimos no momento presente, e apenas no momento presente. É-nos pedido que nos informemos sobre nós próprios. Se pensamentos difíceis entrarem na nossa mente, devemos aceitá-los pelo que são, sem os julgar. Em vez disso, devemos acolher a capacidade de os processar sem autocrítica, para podermos trabalhar o negativo.

Mesmo os pensamentos negativos são úteis para o crescimento. If we allow them to pass through our minds and acknowledge that they’re there rather than attempt to dismiss them, we can work toward shifting our perspective. Brushing negativity under the rug only masks, rather than eliminates, it.

Pensar com coração implica verificar o coração e o nosso bem-estar espiritual. When we consider matters of the heart, the ability to practice gratitude becomes particularly important. This is because there truly is such a thing as heartache. We have to acknowledge what hurts our heart and accept that the pain exists in order to move through it and begin to remove the painful pieces. This pain, like the painful thoughts that enter our mind, shouldn’t simply be suppressed. Doing so will only allow it to become unbearable and emotional chaos takes over.

A atenção plena e a atenção plena são praticadas para evitar o isolamento, enquanto a raiva e o ressentimento o induzem.

When we can remove the painful pieces from our hearts and minds, and replace these with gratitude, we can move to a better place—and our whole being will begin to heal. Then, and only then, can we begin to truly appreciate life’s blessings.

So, in quiet moments of self-reflection, try practicing these techniques. Then discover what you are grateful for and practice gratitude. Are you thankful for the long walks you’re able to take each night? For the stop you’re able to make at your favorite park on the commute home each day? For the few minutes of peaceful reflection before falling asleep? For your past mistakes and the ability to learn from them? For how much you’ve grown through life’s trials? O que são está agradecido?

Quanto mais tentarmos ativamente mudar a nossa perspetiva, mais fácil se torna e mais gratificante será a nossa vida.