Maintaining A Good Attitude In The Midst Of Suffering
We never know how much time we are going to be given; how much time we still have left.
And what a waste of that time for us to spend it sad and sour. But it's easy, isn't it? It's easy to be miserable when things go wrong, to get upset at people who mistreat us, to get frustrated when we are forced to wait in traffic or in a lineup at the grocery store. We like comfort, don't we? We don't like when things don't go our way.
When we get upset during stressful circumstances, it likely isn't going to change things for the better.
Getting angry at the traffic won't make it go any faster. Huffing and puffing in the lineup will probably just get you a number of judgmental looks, not prompt anyone to move any faster or provide any better customer service for you. And you might even end-up going viral on Youtube depending on the level of your public tantrum.
If we are suffering from a physical disease, if we don't have enough money to pay our bills, if the fridge is looking bare, these aren't problems that are going to be improved by our decision to embrace the misery in the difficulty and challenge that we face.
Usually, if we choose to embrace that negative attitude, it only makes things worse for us and only adds to the difficulty of trying to deal with the situation.
Joy can be uplifting and can provide strength to get through difficult times. Sadness, anger, and frustration on the other hand can easily set you back and act as a stumbling block. Is it possible to maintain a good attitude despite our suffering? I believe that it is, but is it easy? Not at all.
One of the most extreme circumstances of misery, where I would assume it'd be especially trying to attempt keeping a good attitude, is for those who are detained behind bars and who have their freedom stripped away from them. And one specific case that I'd like to mention is that of Viktor Frankl who was sent as a prisoner to Auschwitz.
Frankl was a psychotherapist and allegedly tried to help many others inside the prison to regain a sense of purpose, to try and persuade them against committing suicide.
Frankl had said that for those who were intellectually rich, that despite their outward conditions, that they had the ability to retreat during such times of difficulty to a life of inner spiritual freedom and inner riches.
The ability to maintain a good attitude acted as a self-defense mechanism for those inmates and provided them strength to carry on in those conditions in the hopes that they would see their loved ones again or one day be free of living under such tyranny.
Though we might find ourselves in difficult circumstances in life, we can choose how we endure that position of suffering.
There is always someone out there who has it worse off than whatever our current situation might be and despite those who might be suffering physically or financially etc elsewhere in the world, sometimes you'll find that those folks who have the least will be the kindest and most generous.
Pics:
Pixabay
Tenor via tenor.com/view/roadrage-robert-downey-jr-rdj-gif-5099056
Mashable
Anchorman via Giphy
bbs.boingboing.net/t/an-animated-gif-versation/89529/84
Burn After Reading via Giphy
*The information that is posted above is not intended or implied to ever be used as any substitute for professional medical advice, or diagnosis or treatment. The above is posted for informational purposes only. *
Sources:
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/29837-the-one-thing-you-can-t-take-away-from-me-is
https://giphy.com/gifs/will-ferrell-movie-film-hpUq0usXAeZvq
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Very touching and motivating post, we should be thankful for every breath and opportunities we get, some people don't get the chance to explore the world the way we do
With a positive mindset the worst situations seem manageable, with a negative mindset the best situations seem like their killing you. It's all about perspective and humility. Thanks for sharing buddy!
Very nice and good post
I always try to tell myself there is a reason why anything happens, think of past circumstances in which I've been frustrated or sad but then because of an event I thought was bad something wonderful was able to happen later. This helps me remain positive, hopeful.
i usually don't read every single word of a posting. But this time it tied me :D resteem
Wow.
Nice nice
It has been proven some time ago that our brains are neuroplastic, which means we just get used to state in which we spend the most time and then this state is our primary state of mind. Of course it's entirely up to you -
how you react on certain circumstances but if you already fall into abyss of sarrow and cannot see any way out, then instant contradiction is no use. In my opinion it would be just lying to ourselves (and we are actually aware if it) and we perfectly know that the situation is much much worse. That can lead to inner dissonance or even inner fight which just will leave us wasted and completely out of power, so the negative attitude gots straight way to overwhelm us. Sometimes it's not easy to change attitude but in my opinion best thing you can do is not to negate but rather accept thing as they are first. So what if I'm actually being in prison - thinking "but I still got my free will", "I am free man, I can do whatever I want" doesn't change the fact that I'm prisoned. Istead if I would be like "OK. I'm in prison and I can't get out where I please but I can still do a lot of things inside the prison and get through this experience. Maybe it's good time to change some of my life priorities and prepare better to live as a free man again? If I already found myself in such a situation what can I learn from it?
Negation and hiding negative stuff under the carpet won't help. Things will get even worse when after some time you'll realise that you've been lying to yourself about this whole time. All humans can adapt to almost every condiotion but it takes some effort and time. Of course you can still change your attitude and work towards changing the situation on the better, but without acceptance you'll be in constant fight with yourself - that will only be restraining you. So let go, accept the negatives, look toward the bright sides and then work on them.
Count your blessing and be grateful. Let the problem come, keep moving forward.
Always be grateful for every breath, some people are breathing and enslaved, broke, sick, and in worse situations than you and are grateful to wake up every morning.
Great post. It's always important to have some sort of hope when you're going through a rough time! Hope you have a good day.