Embrace your problems with joy!

(Originally posted on Wednesday, 6 March 2019)

I’ve just realized that our problems can become the source of our happiness. With a proper approach we can embrace all our problems with joy!

Human brain is built for solving problems. This is what makes us special compared to other animals – no other animal can even dream about solving problems that a human can solve. The humankind as a whole can solve huge problems, but it’ all about particular individuals solving particular problems. Obviously some individuals are more “blessed” than others, but every human brain works more or less in the same way. This is why we like to solve puzzles or crosswords. Why we like to play computer games. Why we like to watch TV mind competitions. Why we like to read about interesting things. Human brain LOVES to learn to be able to solve problems. But our own life is full of interesting things too. Every day we have to deal with problems. Some of them are bigger and some of them are smaller, but we constantly have some problems to solve. If we start seeing them as challenges instead of unpleasant chores then we will smile much more often!

Usually it is the other way round – usually our problems make us unhappy and we try to run away from them or try to ignore them at least for some time, but in the long run we are always forced to deal with them, which makes us even more unhappy. Well, sometimes we are so stubborn that we slide into addictions, debts, health problems or we harm our life in another way and then we have to deal with the “extra” problems first. Obviously dealing with the “extra” problems is by definition harder than dealing with “normal” problems, but the “extra” problems can be embraced with joy too! For example a joy coming from the feeling that we are ready to face the challenge of overcoming our addiction and the upcoming withdrawal syndrome.

If we are lucky to successfully deal with the “extra” problems then we have to tackle the “normal” problems anyway, so it is much better to deal with the “normal” problems right away and “skip” the “extra” problems.

Please notice that something that can't be changed by us is not really our problem – our problem is how to deal with it (with a given situation) as best as we can. It regards also things that were very sad for us, especially when they were actually our own fault. No matter what happened in the past it can't be changed. It's the past. All our problems are today, even if they concern past events. Every such problem can be embraced with joy too! A joy coming from the feeling that we are ready to face the challenge of overcoming our past.

Once again – our brain loves to solve problems, so when we concentrate on our own PRESENT life we will be able to embrace ALL our problems with joy. And the world will suddenly look much more positive. And we will smile much more often. :)