Political Warfare Bureau,M.N.D.PostDate: 2017/05/01

Face your life with a happy attitude

Life is filled with happiness as well as bitterness. You should not insist on writing tragedies.

By Zhuang Yuling, Counselor, Mental Health Center, Central Region, Ministry of National Defense

Eric Erikson, a psychologist, suggested in his theories of mental and social crisis that from birth to death, people are confronted with continual crises and missions.  Including the establishment of close relationship with others in adulthood, and the retrospections and loss of old age, these crises are like ocean waves coming one after another all the time.  Therefore, in order to seize the opportunities to enjoy the growth and experiences of life, try to relax yourself, and live your life with happy attitudes.  I would like to share four happy attitudes with you, as follows:

1. Self tolerance:  C.G. Jung, the psychology master, said that we have to fight against the evil, face the shadows, and integrate the internal devils.  Realizing the darkness can bring you brightness.  When you accept both the internal beauties and the ugliness inside you, you can elaborate every part of you.  Every defect has positive meanings.  If you continually deny yourself, you will feel lost and disappointed in everything in your life.  Therefore, your life will be easier if you positively accept yourself, transform darkness into power, and reduce criticism.

2. Positive thinking:  You should regard the problems in daily life as challenges rather than threats; the problems will be resolved easily accordingly.  You can repeatedly take challenges, but when you face threats, you have to succeed under heavy pressure.  In fact, things will be easier when you terminate the impression of threat, and regard threats as challenges. 

Nietzsche said “We have no comments about the events in our life.  But we have many ideas on the annotation of the events”.  Knowing how to annotate the stories of life makes you relax and release your pain.  If you consistently write tragedies, tragedies will take place in your life all the time.  In contrast, if you strive to write comedies about your life, you will experience every moment, and in the end finish your life with perfection, though life is filled both with bitterness and happiness.  With positive attitudes and an enthusiastic annotation, you will happily live your life.

The article is extracted from Page 3 of Youth Daily News on 5 December, 2006.