Very often people turn to the psychologist trying only that this does nothing but reaffirm things that they know very well but do not put into practice. They are those ideas on which everyone concurs, understands them and even recommends them to "others" but which hardly apply to their own person. So I took the liberty of summarizing what would be the main "good ideas" which at the same time turn out to be the least "applied" in our daily life:
1. Every situation, however negative it may appear, brings something positive. Of course, nothing is totally negative or totally positive, the coexistence of opposites is a law of life. We know that there is always a positive perspective but… how difficult it is for us to find the positive aspects in a situation that touches us closely!
2. If our method doesn't work, we have to look for other ways. There is no doubt, if we want to solve a problem and we find that our strategy does not work we should just change the path but… it is not that easy! Normally we stick to a single solution and we are not able to analyze the problems from a different perspective, nor do we have the necessary flexibility to change our sleeping behaviors in our most familiar habits and customs.
3. Most worries are totally unnecessary. We are worried about the world economic crisis, about epidemics, about diseases… the list of worries is immense but objectively we can do very little to solve the majority of the problems that afflict us. However, we have developed a culture of quasi-religious worship for meaningless concerns.
4. Accept what we cannot change and focus on what can be changed. This is the best way to direct our physical and psychological resources as we really have very little control over our surroundings and are rarely able to identify those situations over which we have no influence.
5. Overconfidence is a danger. When we neglect our relationships, at work, in couples, with friends, the results are dire; we should never take anything for granted, but instead we should always try to keep what we have built by working day by day, but of course ... how difficult it is for us not to neglect our achievements and always keep the commitment of the first days!
6. If we try to do many things together, we will achieve nothing. Or according to the popular saying “those who want nothing too tightly”. Too often we become champions of failure simply because we accept activities and responsibilities for which we have neither the time nor the necessary skills.
7. Perfection does not exist. This is probably one of the phrases that we all have or have heard repeated in a moment of our life, however ... how many times do we launch ourselves in search of perfection in any of the activities we undertake? How many times do we get depressed because we can't reach this perfection?
8. The best way to impress people is to move naturally. But very few times we succeed in this because we are afraid to show our true self and for this reason we find ourselves acting in many situations of real life.
9. We must make the most of every moment. We cannot add time to life but we can add life to time. However, many times we waste precious time on activities that bring us little satisfaction and zero benefits.
10.We can't change the world but we can affect our surroundings. Often, we take it out on bad luck and put the responsibility for all our misfortunes on the shoulders of others, no matter who they are: the education received as children, the school teacher, the family, the government ... Any place, what, person or reality of the past or present is good as a scapegoat on which to discharge the responsibility and postpone the possibility of change to another day. Of course these "good ideas" that we normally "do not apply" can double, triple, multiply indefinitely… the article just wants to be a pretext to reflect on everything we think but never put into practice. It is a pretext to reconsider ourselves as people and to be able to realize, from now on, a life in which we can enjoy greater personal happiness.
