Life isn’t all happiness and sunshine. And that’s a good thing. (WHA-A-A-T!!) How boring would it be to only have positive experiences? We need a little of the negative, the sadness, and the disappointments to balance the happiness. They are what make the happy times stand out and shine all the brighter.
Negative thoughts, emotions, and the events and people that cause them are part of life. You can to learn to deal with them and make the best of sad situations to live a happy and content life. Today I want to look at a few different ideas and strategies that can help us do just that.

Put Them In Perspective

Before you allow yourself to wallow in sadness, try your best to step back and look at the situation from a different perspective. Get some sleep, go out for a walk, and come back and look at it again. Try your best to see the positive side of things. Yes, there are undeniably sad and bad situations in our lives, but even so, most of them have a little flicker of something good in them as well. Find that positivity and hang on to it. Maybe it’s a food or other allergy that is causing your feelings; maybe you just didn’t sleep enough the last day or so. Check to see if the events or circumstances in your life warrant the amount of feeling that you have – sometimes it’s other people’s emotions that you pick up without realizing it.
There are also a lot of times and situations where we focus too much on the negativity. A little distance, and a little perspective can show us that it’s not as bad as we originally thought. Remind yourself that your brain wants to hang on to the negative, and give yourself permission to change gears.

Allow Yourself To Be Sad At Times

There are also times when life just plain sucks. And, it’s ok to be sad. Don’t feel that you have to be happy 100% of the time. Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to take the time to be sad and grieve. There is a lot of healing and coming to terms with things that can only happen when you let the sadness in. Feel it, so you can start to heal and recover. This will allow you to get back to the happier version of you. The more you try to resist the sadness or pain, the more it will come back to you later. Take care of yourself during these time; don’t overindulge, but eat the right foods, get enough sleep, and do at least a little exercise.

Look On The Bright Side And Find Your Way Back To Happiness

To make sure that you don’t spiral down into a hole of sadness, despair, and depression, you have to look for the right side, or the little flicker of light at the end of the tunnel regularly. Look for it, focus on it, and use it to find your way back to happiness. Maybe that little flicker of hope is simply that you’re not feeling quite as sad as you did yesterday. Or maybe it’s a call from a friend, or a neighbor dropping off a card. Grab onto it and use anything good and positive in your life to lead you back.

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To get and give support and encouragement from total strangers (also sometimes called “accountability”), get access to our awesome 2020 Happiness Habits Challenge Facebook group here.