What do you do when your life doesn’t go well, when you gradually lose hope and have gloomy thoughts? What can we do to get back on track, to tell ourselves that it will pass, that tomorrow will be another day? Here are 7 gentle exercises to put an end to gloomy thoughts and calm your nerves.

1 – Accept that everything seems negative

Indeed, sometimes there’s nothing more to do. Everything seems negative, that’s just the way it is.

Because being positive doesn’t mean telling yourself that everything’s fine when it’s not.

Positivism is knowing how to keep in our hearts the hope that tomorrow will be better, but that in the meantime, today is not going very well, if at all.

In fact, positivism simply helps us to breathe a little easier, to lighten the load a little.

Because it’s normal to go through difficult times. Times that we don’t want, that we’re not always responsible for, that come upon us out of the blue.

Life is like that, it’s a succession of ups and downs. So it’s not about moping around, nor is it about pretending that all is well.

In fact, it’s all about accepting and saying to yourself: “Okay, now everything seems negative.

And, it’s about being at peace with that, as much as possible.

In other words, it’s about trying not to let yourself be consumed by a sense of injustice or fear.

Just breathe and accept that everything seems negative right now.

2 – Roll up your sleeves

Just because we’re going through a difficult period, and we have to accept it, doesn’t mean we have to do nothing at all to fix things.

In fact, there are certainly things you can do to start moving in the right direction.

Maybe you need to apologize, take stock, put some things in place, give up some bad habits, set a new goal or get some rest, for example.

See what you can do to move in a positive direction.

In other words, roll up your sleeves.

Because while you may not be “responsible” for what happens to you, you are responsible for what you do with what happens to you.

Indeed, difficult times often don’t get better on their own. They need you to do your best and even give it your all.

That’s why, when everything seems negative, ask yourself what you can do to make things better. Ask yourself what you can do to roll up your sleeves.

3 – Raising the head

So getting your head up is different from rolling up your sleeves. Rolling up your sleeves is more a question of taking action. Rolling up your sleeves, on the other hand, is more an attitude, a state of mind that we adopt.

A lucid attitude, a lucid state of mind.

Because when we’re going through a difficult period, it’s tempting to let ourselves go completely, to start moaning and groaning, telling anyone who will listen how unlucky we are in life.

In fact, I wholeheartedly invite you to adopt a completely different attitude.

But be careful not to fall into the trap of guilt-tripping. That is, to convince ourselves that everything is our fault, that we deserve it anyway because we’re bad people. Stop!

Raising our heads means not falling into victimization or guilt-tripping.

On the contrary, it means remaining lucid. Yes, there are things for which we are responsible, and others for which we are not. Some things are even “unfair”. That’s just the way it is.

In fact, it means understanding that there’s no point in lamenting or, on the contrary, blaming ourselves for everything.

That’s why I wholeheartedly invite you to remain lucid. In other words, not to mope about everything, but not to blame yourself for everything either.

4 – Stay calm when everything seems negative

When we’re going through a difficult period, we tend to get agitated. We touch everything, do anything and everything, and our thoughts go in all directions.

In fact, we oscillate between a state of total apathy and a state of hyperactivity. And this serves no purpose other than to exhaust ourselves and those around us.

That’s why, when everything seems negative and you just can’t seem to put a positive spin on things, I wholeheartedly invite you to keep calm.

Take a deep breath!

It’s normal to want to take things into your own hands, to harbor lots of negative thoughts and at the same time to make lots of plans to try at all costs to make things better.

But calm down.

You can’t build anything good in total confusion.

In fact, your strength lies in your calm.

So being calm doesn’t mean doing nothing or not thinking about solutions. Quite the contrary, in fact.

But it does mean doing it calmly, not confusedly.

That’s why, when you don’t feel well, calm down first before doing anything or thinking about anything.

In fact, it’s important that you think as clearly as possible and that your heart is as calm as possible. That’s your priority when everything seems negative.

5 – Remain hopeful even when everything seems negative

It’s important to remain hopeful, because there’s no point in seeing everything in the dark.

In fact, seeing everything in black doesn’t protect us or make us stronger – quite the contrary. Seeing everything in black wastes all our strength and creativity in finding solutions.

Yes, it’s hope that makes us stronger, that helps us mobilize our intelligence and creativity to move forward, to bounce back, to repair what’s broken.

That’s why, even when everything seems negative, especially when everything seems negative, always keep hope.

So, don’t be ultra-optimistic either, that is, don’t lose your lucidity either, but always keep in a corner of your heart and head that yes, things can work out.

And that if they don’t, then you’ll still be okay, that you’ll overcome what you have to overcome.

That’s what hope is all about: having faith in yourself, in your strength, in your resilience.

It’s also about keeping faith in life, believing that there’s always an open road to happiness. Even if it hurts today, even if it’s not the way we would have liked it to be, there’s always happiness for us, on another path we don’t yet know.

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover The 100 most beautiful positive thoughts to bring happiness into your life
Discover Life’s trials and tribulations: 6 tips for overcoming them

I recommend this inspiring book:

Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach

Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach guides us to meet life’s challenges with compassion and mindfulness. The book offers practical insights and practices for moving from negativity and self-judgment to a place of radical acceptance. Drawing on the wisdom of Buddhist teachings, it offers a way to navigate difficulties and cultivate a positive, compassionate outlook when everything seems negative.

Handsomely practical, it just leaves you with a sense of peace within yourself and in the world. I’ve just finished it, and as it’s so rich, I’ll certainly be returning to it.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself