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“Turn you face toward the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.” – Māori Proverb

When it feels like there is no light or hope, that life is too hard or that we don’t see the light in the dark of emotional tunnel, we need to remind ourselves of these important life truths which can help us to overcome the darkness:

How to Overcome Darkness and Turn Bad Days Around

1. The Darkest Hour is Just Before the Sunrise

Usually, the darkest moments of our life also represent the most important life changing moments we will ever experience! It’s usually once we hit the bottom and we cannot cope with the pain anymore that we get the courage and strength to make the change in our life, even if it seems as scary as hell! My coaching clients usually hire me to make their life transformations once they got so fed up with the problem or pain that they are experiencing that they just cannot tolerate anymore and they are ready, once and for all, to make the needed change, whatever it takes!

My coaching clients usually hire me to make their life transformations once they got fed up with the problem or pain that they are experiencing that they just cannot tolerate it anymore and they are ready to a change!

The most painful and darkest moments in our life are usually those moments when due to pain we are coping with, and we are not able to tolerate any more we finally decide that it is enough and we get the courage to make career transition, leave that job that we hate, leave the partner that we are not happy with, break up with our bad behaviour patterns, hire a therapist, get a coach to guide us, sign up for that life changing personal growth workshop, move out of the place that is “suffocating” our spirit, invest our money in that business we always wanted to start but we were too afraid to take a risk, and so on…

We need to feel grateful for the dark period in our lives, as the “darkest hour” only shows that we are very close to making the drastic, incredible and super exciting change in our life, which will make us way happier in the long run!

2. PAIN is an Indicator That Something Isn’t Right 

I love the definition of the word “pain” by spiritual teacher Iyanla Vanzante:

Pay

Attention

Inwards

Now

Pain is an indicator that something is wrong. When we get burned, pain signals to our body that we are touching the hot object, so that we can become aware of the danger and get away from its toxic environment! Same goes with emotional pain! Pain is always there to tell us that we are in the environment which is hurting us. Pain is a signal that we are in a wrong relationship, wrong job, wrong friend circle, wrong city, wrong country.

Pain is telling us that this thing is hurting us and we need to move away from it as fast as we can. Pain is telling us that we need to make a change!

3. When You Feel Helpless, Help Someone Else 

One of the valuable things I’ve learned while attending advanced yoga retreats taught by the great Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is that the best tool and spiritual practice to overcome depression is SEVA.

Seva represents selfless help given to other people. Helping others will always remind us that there are people who are suffering more than us and that our own life is not so miserable. Helping others will give us the sense of purpose and meaning even if our life feels empty right now. Helping others will make us feel more fulfilled (this is backed up by scientific researchers). Take a look at how you can help people around you and you will experience the inner shift of emotions from negative to positive in an instant!

4. Remind Yourself of All the Blessings, Even In the Darkest Moments of Your Life 

Living in India made me realize how many things I was taking for granted while living in Europe before. Seeing people living in an unimaginable poverty, not having a roof over their head, food, or even a glass of cold water when the temperature gets over 46C in a summer, made me look at the ice cubes in my glass as a blessing!

I also realized how blessed I am as I could choose my husband and I did not grow up in a country where I would need to have an arranged marriage. I also had the right to go to school and get my education (this is still only a dream for many women or children from the poor background around the world).

We often don’t realize how blessed we are taking many things for granted. There is an old saying that a healthy man has a thousand and one desire, and a sick man has only one: to get better!

[bctt tweet=”Make sure that you count your #blessing every single day!” username=”havingtime”]

Make sure that you count your blessing every single day and write a gratitude journal or take a moment to appreciate all the things you can be thankful for. 

5. You Don’t Have to Walk Down This Path Alone 

You don’t have to be alone in the dark: ask for help! If you are experiencing deep emotional pain and feeling depressed, you can get the help that you deserve. If you feel stuck in your life and you feel like it

If you feel stuck in your life and can’t tolerate the pain anymore, working with a life coach can help you transform your life and create the life that you would love and appreciate more. Friends and family can be a great support to us when we are going through a difficult time, but they often can’t give us an objective feedback and an expert advice, concrete actions steps and tools to change our lives and overcome the darkness and pain!

Have in mind that whatever you are going trough, that too shell pass, but if you start practicing these five tools given above, you can make it pass much faster! So, why not start today?! Take the first step… 

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