How to change your Relationship to Your Problems

“If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.”

Life is comprised of problems, issues, obstacles and just changes that are within our control and some out of our control. To achieve true happiness in-spite of what we are currently facing, we must change our relationship to them. When we see our problems as a potential source of awakening, opportunities to practice patience and to learn, we start to achieve inner peace. From a spiritual perspective, our problems are the best places to practice keeping our hearts open to what is.

“The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.”

While there are some problems that truly need to be solved, but the others however are problems we create for ourselves by struggling to make our life different than it actually is. Accepting and understanding the inevitable contradictions of life, the pain and pleasure, success and failure, joy and sorrow, births and deaths will result into a more peaceful life. Problems will teach us to be gracious, patient and most definitely humble.

There is a tradition where some difficulties are considered to be so important to a life of growth and peace and without them you don’t grow. This type of acceptance is…