Sometimes life just wears you down. We all face times when we don’t feel the happiness that we may have at one time or another in our lives. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have depression, it could just be the burdens of your day to day life are taking a toll on you. There are many positive ways to combat this problem, and these begin by trusting the Lord and seeking His help to regain that beautiful smile!

Be Thankful:

Being grateful for what you have and not focusing on what you don’t will increase your mood. Research shows that those who express gratitude, one to three times per week, for what they have, are happier than those who don’t express their gratitude for what they have.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2

Control Your Thoughts:

Much of what we think about is out of habit and often these thoughts can be negative. Sometimes we find ourselves replaying conversations or scenarios over and over in our mind and this repetition can increase anxiety and depressive feelings. Stop the thought for a second and analyze it and see first does it make sense, is it true, and what can you do to solve it or fix it. Then you will want to replace this negative thought with a positive one, this will take practice, but it works.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Let the Past Be Just That, the Past:

There is no way to change what has already happened, you can only learn from it and move forward. By spending time focusing on what you can’t change you only take away from focusing on what you have the power to change. If you find yourself stuck in focusing on past failures or regrets, you need to consciously change your thoughts to something that is positive.

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” Philippians 3:13

Our mind is so powerful that it can change the way we feel, for the positive and negative. It is important to understand that you have a great deal of control over your moods and life is too short to focus on things that aren’t positive. God wants only the best for you, now it is time for you to have just that!

God Bless You,
Pastor Jason Phillips
Counselor, Royal Palm Christian Counseling