Why Life Feels Difficult And What To Do About It.

Does life often get you down? Life can be tough, but,  there are also a few things we can do to easily brush away some of the common difficulties.

Common Problems and how to deal with it

Lack of Money

It is easy to feel that if we could just get a few thousand more dollars – all our problems would be solved. However, you may find even if you won a thousand dollars, you would still want more. Life will always create money worries – the important thing is how to deal with them. Try to keep money in its proper place, don’t let it dominate your life. Take practical steps to improve your financial situation, but try also to be content with your current situation; it is a mistake to always feel that a lack of money is our most significant problem.

Lack of Motivation

Often we know what we should do, but, we feel no inclination to start. A lack of motivation means that we never try new things and life can easily become stale. A lack of motivation is related to a feeling of boredom and self doubt. There are many practical ways to overcome a lack of motivation; the most important thing is just to start new projects. Often when we make the initial first step, we realise it is not as difficult as we feared. It can also be important to set goals, if we make certain targets it becomes harder to find excuses and avoid doing it.

Problems keep repeating themselves

Quite often, when we solve or avoid a problem, it repeats itself through another person or another experience. This can be dispiriting because it seems we will never be able to gain peace of mind. The solution is not to keep trying to avoid the problem, when we have a defect in our character the problem will keep appearing. To resolve this kind of problem we need to take a fresh perspective and try to understand the underlying cause of the problem. This may require some honest self criticism. Look at your motives and thoughts and see whether you can approach issues from a different perspective.

Criticism from Others

Sometimes we try our best, but others never seem satisfied. This criticism can come from our boss, families or friends. If we try to make everyone happy we will never succeed; whatever we do, someone will always discover some reason to find fault. Instead we need to look carefully at how we deal with criticism. Some criticism is false, so we should ignore it and remain detached. If criticism is valid, we should seek to learn from it, without feeling guilty or a sense of injured pride.

How to overcome destructive criticism? Just love a little more. That’s all.

– Sri Chinmoy

Life is heading Nowhere

Do you ever get the feeling that life is heading nowhere? Do you think about where you will be in 10 years time and groan at the prospect of being stuck in the same dead end job, with the same unsolved problems? If the future depresses you, don’t resign to your fate. Do something to create a better future; it is important to have the hope of a different and more fulfilling future. Unless we are able to have a positive view of our future self development, there is little hope of actually creating it.

Minor Personality conflicts

Minor personality conflicts are one of the most enduring causes of human suffering. It seems that no matter where we turn, there are always other people ready to cause problems. No matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to avoid getting irritated by the behaviour of other people. To make things worse these small problems often go round endlessly in our mind, magnifying the initial problem. The solution is not to expect a certain behaviour from other people; if we give up on perfecting other’s behaviour life becomes more peaceful. The other thing we need to try is to gain control of our thoughts. We need to let go of negative thoughts so that we don’t allow minor problems to escalate in importance.

Poor Health.

Do you get out of breath walking up the stairs? Do you feel a sense of guilt about piling on extra pounds? If we neglect the body and fail to exercise we become lethargic and more prone to a depressed state of mind. The link between a healthy body and positive frame of mind can never be underestimated; it is only when we make an effort to keep fit that we realise the difference it can make, and not just to our physical health but our state of mind. To start an exercise regime does need self discipline and self motivation; but, unless you can look after your own health, no amount of pills will be able to solve your problems.

Photo by: Pavitrata Taylor, Sri Chinmoy Centre galleries