The complete list of all life-guiding messages for young people – click the titles for further information
Change will happen. You may be, at least initially, resistant to these changes. You cannot always control either the changes or your initial hesitancy. You can control your larger response to the changes. To do so requires your active participation.
Sometimes a counsellor is needed to help when the emotional pain is just too much and you can’t get a grasp on it. There is nothing wrong with this. Painful events in life can seem too much to bear, and speaking to a counsellor will help.
Keep a gratitude jar. At the end of the day each person writes one thing they’re grateful for on a slip of paper and places it into the jar. At the end of the month/year you can open and read them together or whenever you need to remember the good things.
If you want to grow your own food, you can grow vegetables in your garden or plant salad leaves or herbs in a window box. You can also grow food with others on an allotment or community garden, or go fruit picking.
If you want to experience nature more, you can grow or pick food, bring nature inside, do activities outdoors, help the environment, or connect with animals.
If you pause and take the time to analyse why someone may be acting with jealousy, you can begin to understand what may be motivating their behaviours, which then makes it easier to empathise with their circumstance.
Take a step back and pause when you are getting treated unfairly because of someone’s jealousy. Remind yourself that it is not you that has the problem, it is them. Their jealousy and underlying issues are causing them to act this way.
All the things you’ve done and the things you’ve seen, the people you’ve known, the heartbreaks you’ve stitched back together, the plans you’ve made, and the plans you’ve had to let go, the celebrations and growing pains are part of your wholeness.
You’ve said just the right thing at the right time, and said things you didn’t mean. You’ve been right and wrong, hard and soft, fearless and afraid. You’ve felt pride, shame, joy, sorrow, serenity, distress. And you will again.
The point of practising gratitude is not to disregard negative emotions. It’s important to allow yourself to feel and experience those as well. Rather, the point is to also recognise the good. Sometimes we can get caught up focusing on what is “wrong” and lose sight of all that is “right.”