It is certain that every human will experience ups and downs in their lives. How do we find contentment during those times? Usually, people handle good times better than bad times. So in this post, I will focus more on the bad times.

No expectations

When we feel disappointed it is usually because we were really looking forward to something. It could also be that you had a different expectation of that situation and things turned out differently. By having high expectations you’re setting yourself up for failure. But you could also look at it the other way around. Namely, during good times you expect that something bad will happen so only thing negative thoughts.

Resilience

Dr. Lucy Hone studies resilience. But then she experienced the biggest loss in her life. She lost her daughter in a car accident. In her Ted Talk dr. Hone explains 3 strategies on how to get through an unimaginable tragedy.

• Shit happens
  suffering is part of every human experience. But somehow we forget this because we only show the shiny side of our lives on social media. The more you accept that you will experience ups and downs. The more you can heal when a situation arises.
• Being selective with their attention
  people who show resilience accept the things they can’t change and act on the things they can change. This allows for more peace of mind.
• Help or Harm
  people who show resilience also ask themselves: “Is what I’m doing helping or harming me?” Some things are not helping us in our healing process but feed the emotion we are in at that point.

Practicing gratitude

By writing or thinking about all the things you are grateful for daily or weekly, you are looking at the good that is happening in your life. This way you will always find something positive during good or/and bad times. It also might be easier to cope with the thing you’re dealing with, because there is always something to be grateful for.

Image: Unsplash. by Dave Herring