Monday, December 26, 2016

The sun must set to rise

New year resolutions…Resolutions are hard to keep, I have never been able to keep them, so at the beginning of this year, I decided to keep a vague new year resolution, vague as in a statement, a phrase that will run at the back of my mind, so my NY resolution for the year 2016 was 'loving myself, no matter what'
Oh boy! Little did I know, that the year which was to follow would be a difficult one.
And what does a difficult year teach us? Life lessons ;) :D :P

Speaking of which, the first lesson I learned this year:-
1) Positivity Offset- It means that positive experiences are actually more frequent than negative. There's scientific evidence to show that the distribution of good and bad events in people's lives, for the most part, favors the good.

So, just take notice of the positive events that are already there, it might not be about changing anything, but just noticing and appreciating things that are there. :D

2) Detours are not dead-ends- For a long time, I felt my life was going nowhere, that I had lost direction and was unable to see the distant future. Then as clichéd as it sounds, I realised that when you are lost, you really can create a new path for yourself. Everybody is on a unique journey with nobody to compare. So who decides, which paths are dead-ends?

“She initially started making YouTube videos to help her with her depression. While she had been busy toiling away at her undergraduate degree in Psychology & pondering a career in counselling, she decided to try her hand at YouTube. Hits quickly started flowing in and her mood lifted." Today she is the third highest -paid YouTube star of 2016, she is none other than Lilly Singh (|| superwoman ||).
 Inspirational isn't it?
Ultimately, there are no dead-ends just detours and every path is the right path, because it turned you into the person you are today & who you needed to become :) it's not about the destination, in fact, it is just about getting lost in the journey.
3) Acceptance, surrender, and letting go- Surrendering removes blocks and the exhaustion that comes from trying too hard and it helps you achieve goals more effortlessly. Though surrender is often considered counter-intuitive to success- it's wrongly associated with weakness and defeat- it can make you more powerful, intuitive, spiritually connected, uninhibited and ecstatically in the flow.
4) Experiencing Resilience- The positive emotions that we experience may seem fleeting and temporary, but they enable and build resilience in the long run. Resilience is like a muscle and it can grow when you experience positive emotions. Remember when you are going through a particularly hard time, there is always something you can change about your situation and if there is nothing you can do, then why worry? :D
5) When life gives you lemons, make orange juice and make everyone wonder how you did it :p - To be honest, the real motivation to grow develops from adversity, failure builds character and acts as a fire which is ignited to convert pain into efforts. All that is great, but all motivation ends once the goal is reached.So, let go of the outcome, forget 5-year plans - no seriously, does life ever happen according to your plans? And have the courage to be true to yourself and don't live the life others expect you to live, express your feelings, stay in touch with your friends and lastly let yourself be happy. (Always, because you deserve it ;))

REFERENCES

1) Fredrickson B. (2009) Ten positive emotions. Retrieved from :- https://www.coursera.org/learn/positive-psychology/lecture/JqaAf/ten-positive-emotions
2) Oppenheim M. (2016). Lilly Singh: How a 28 year old Canadian rapped and vlogged her way into the You Tuber's millionaire's club. Retrieved from :-https://www.google.co.in/amp/www.independent.co.uk/news/people/lilly-singh-youtube-highest-paid-richest-forbes-list-2016-a7458441.html%3Famp
3)Orloff J. (2014). The Ecstasy of Surrender. Retrieved from:-https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-ecstasy-surrender