Resilience – maintaining happiness during tough times

We know we’ve posted this before but we thought it might be worth posting again, as a reminder for some and some help to others who’re experiencing very difficult times (especially those affected by the Queensland floods); we hope you find it helpful…

Life is not always smooth sailing and even the luckiest and best of us face hardships at times. At The Happiness Institute we strongly believe everyone can experience more happiness but we_ã_re also realistic enough to know that no one will be 100% happy 100% of the time.

With this in mind we recognise that as humans, even as happy humans, we_ã_ll experience a range of emotions (both positive and negative). Accordingly, we also believe that happiness is not just about enjoying the good times (although this is an important part of happiness) but in addition, happiness is also about working through the difficulties we all face from time to time.

Happy people tend to face these challenges more effectively; they_ã_re more resilient_ã_and not surprisingly, resilience breeds happiness. So next time you_ã_re experiencing difficulties or facing adversity or struggling with challenges, try the following resilience tips tested and recommended by The Happiness Institute.

• reach out and utilise your support network (happy & resilient people don_ã_t necessarily cope with everything on their own but rather, they reach out and appropriately ask for help)

• when and where appropriate, use humour and laughter to see things differently and to remain positive

• by all means, learn from your experiences, but don_ã_t dwell on the past (especially on or about things that can_ã_t be changed)

• practice helpful thinking strategies and do whatever you can to remain hopeful & optimistic about the future

• don_ã_t catastrophise and keep things in perspective

• look after your (physical) health including making sure you get plenty of sleep and rest

• accept the reality that the world, and the people in it, are not perfect, and accept the inevitability of change

• don_ã_t lose sight of your purpose, direction and goals, nor of your dreams and ambitions 

• don_ã_t stop working towards your goals

• try to learn more about yourself and focus on the positives within yourself

• focus, also, on all the positives in the world

Remember, happiness is not something you should only experience when things are going well_ã_if you practise these resilience strategies then you should also experience happiness during times of difficulty.

Again, we hope you find this helpful and if you’d like an easy to print out version of this just click here for a free download.