Hey all,
Feeling a bit down lately with work, personal life shit and in trying to ignore world events to focus on what I can feasibly reach out and tackle. Would love a prayer or some wisdom for 23 year old like myself to be encouraged by. Thanks. (Mods, if not allowed please don't ban me, just remove the post and pray in private.)
This may sound like strange advice but you'll find more joy in your life if you practice gratitude. Start a journal and when you get up every morning and before you go to sleep (or however your schedule works), write down 3 things you're grateful for in your life. It can be anything as long as it's something you're truly thankful for existing.
It will help focus your mind on the people and things you have in your life and foster an attitude of thankfulness. People call this by many different names but it's the same idea of counting your blessings. I suggest writing them down daily for two reasons : 1) On the really rough days, you can look back at all of your blessings and 2) what you write, you invite. Essentially it's a way to attune yourself to invite more blessings into your life.
As you practice, you'll find that you start becoming grateful for those really hard times or those difficult people because they helped you learn and grow. You don't have to like the person or event, but you can be thankful that you had that experience.
The biggest part of all of this is where you put your focus, you will go. If you focus on things you're grateful for, you'll find more and more things that you're grateful for and I believe it will encourage more joy in your life and will help with dealing with hardships (as your mind will already be looking for the valuable lessons!).
I'm also a firm believer that fostering an attitude of gratitude will not only bring you closer to our Lord and Creator but also keep away negative influences. Becoming close to God and learning to follow in his footsteps encourages more blessings. If your taste is more to the law of attraction, then what you put out into the universe you will receive back. And if you believe in vibrational frequencies, practicing gratitude raises your vibration to a higher plane and therefore would attract other high vibration beings and experiences.
Regardless of what your personal thoughts are on Life, Universe and Everything, practicing gratitude will help you attract (or find) more joy in your life.
I wish you the best and I'm certain you can do this.