Back to Back Issues Page
Happy Life Tip of the Week, Issue #103-Possibilities
March 09, 2011


Concern yourself with what it is still possible for you to do to minimize frustration.

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.
Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in,
but with what it is still possible for you to do.

Pope John XXIII

Hello Friends,
Anyone who has ever tried to do something that did not come out as they planned has experienced frustration. Sometimes if feels as if our days are filled with it. Frustration can be like the death by a thousand cuts- each one a small injury, but over time it adds up to something overwhelming.

When I experience frustration I like to use a three part approach to recover quickly.

First, I remind myself that frustration is based in the belief that things could be different. They could be better. I remind myself that the feeling of frustration is just the feeling of creative dissonance- because my ideals and my reality do not match.

The next step involves asking myself three questions. They are:

  1. What do I really want?
  2. What is good, or could be good about the current reality?
  3. Where is my reality different from my ideal?
    4. If I am very frustrated, I sometimes have to go back to the first question after each of the other two to make sure I stay focused on what I really want instead of what I fear or fell frustrated about.

    Finally, I make an action plan. Sometimes my action plan is to let it go because the difference between what I wanted or expected and what happened is really very small. Sometimes my ideal is so different from the reality, I choose to focus on a different goal, but most often, I learn something important about myself or my situation from this process and can easily think of another, better plan to accomplish what I am after.

    No matter what the outcome, going through this process refocuses me back to the positive about what I want and what the situation is.

    The next time you feel frustration, I hope you can:

    Concern yourself with what it is still possible for you to do to minimize frustration.



    For more tips on how to be happy, try these happy life quotes or these additional tips.

    Affirmation
    I minimize frustration by remembering what I really want and building another plan to get there.

    Journal or Meditation Question
    When was the last time I felt really frustrated? What was the better outcome or reality I believed in? What other possibilities do I have to make that belief true?

    Happiness is Contagious
    Forward the Happy Life Tip of the Week to your friends!

    To Subscribe

    If someone forwarded this on to you and you would like to get your own copy of the Happy Life Tip of the Week, Subscribe Here.
Back to Back Issues Page