How Choosing to Focus on the Good Can Help Us Overcome Challenges

The holiday of Chanukah is a celebration of light and miracles. Light is a symbol of hope, encouragement, and the ability to overcome challenges and dispel darkness.

Metaphorically, light represents the lamp of life - our ability to choose to illuminate our inner world and also the worlds of others, by directing the beam of the lamp to the points we wish to highlight and expand.

How can choosing to focus on the good help us overcome challenges?

Life is full of challenges from security situations to personal, family, and social difficulties. When we focus on the good in our lives, it can help us overcome these challenges.

If we are facing a personal challenge, such as illness, loss, or emotional difficulties, choosing to focus on the good things in our lives can help us feel more optimistic and find the strength to deal with the challenge. For example: during illness, we can focus on the people who care for us, the treatment we receive, the blessings we have (acknowledging there are worse situations), recovery progress, and strong physical and cognitive abilities.

Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said, "As long as the candle burns, it's possible to repair"!

Like the candle, as long as your lamp is lit and illuminating the good, the positive, your abilities and skills, you can repair and change the path, and find better ways to achieve your goals and dreams in the current reality.

This can help us see the good things we have in life, the things we're good at, and the things we're capable of doing. Focusing on the good gives us hope and encouragement. It encourages us to move forward, believe in ourselves, and overcome challenges.

Light Up Your Goals and Dreams

Our life's lamp can also shine on our goals and dreams. It can help us see the path we want to take and the things we want to achieve. When we shine light on our goals and dreams, it provides us with motivation and direction, and helps us stay focused and take the right steps to make our dreams come true.

The ability to choose to focus on the good in our lives is a skill that anyone can acquire.

According to NLP, we use a fundamental assumption I personally like very much: Energy flows where attention goes. This means that the place where we focus our attention will grow, which suggests that when we focus on the good, it can help us live better and happier lives..

What Exactly Is "Good" and "Positive"?

We believe there is no evil descending from the heavens; everything is good. It is only that in our limited perspective, we don't always succeed in seeing it. Therefore, it can be said that the good is anything that allows us growth and change, anything that increases joy, satisfaction, and a sense of meaning within us.

Following are some specific examples of good things we can focus on in our lives:

Our abilities and skills. Each of us has unique abilities, resources, strengths, and good qualities.. When we focus on them, it helps us feel good about ourselves, believe in ourselves, and achieve our goals. For example, if we are talented in art, we can highlight this ability through painting, writing, or music. If we are good at communication and have strong verbal skills, we can illuminate this ability by teaching, sharing content, and strengthening others.

The people we love. The people we love are a great source of happiness and satisfaction.. When we focus on them, it helps us feel loved, appreciated, belonging, and connected to others. We can light up the people we love by spending quality time with them, giving small gifts, or simply telling them how much we love and appreciate them.

The things we're good at. We are all good at certain things. We all have superpowers, unique gifts bestowed upon us by Hashem. When we focus on the things we are good at, it helps us feel satisfaction and success, and it allows us to use our abilities and skills to fulfill our mission and talent in the world. We can highlight the things we're good at by sharing them with others and remembering and appreciating them.

The things we have to be thankful for. There are always things we can be thankful for, even if they are small. Focusing on them helps us feel privileged and happy. We can illuminate the things we have to be thankful for by writing in a gratitude journal, through meditation, affirmations, or simply reminding ourselves and mentioning them daily.

Shine Light on the Present. It is also important to illuminate the present. This can help us see things as they are, without focusing on the past or future. When we shine light on the present, it gives us a sense of satisfaction and peace and helps us appreciate what we have, here and now, even if it's not perfect.

Illuminate Our Path with Life's Lamp. This can help us see the possibilities before us and the choices we can make. When we light our path, it gives us freedom of choice and the ability to influence our lives.

Life's lamp is a powerful symbol. It can help us see the world in a new light, find hope and encouragement, and continue on our path.

The choice of where to shine our lamp is ours. Let's choose to illuminate the good, our goals and dreams, the present, and our path.

Dr. Rina Mordo, PhD, is an NLP Master Trainer.