Areas › Low mood and hard feelings › Question the thought
Name one hard thing today and ask what it might be growing in you: patience, humility, nearness to God.
Not denying the difficulty. Finding the meaning inside it that makes it bearable.
Qur’an and Sunnah
With hardship comes ease; truly with hardship comes ease (Qur'an 94:5-6). The ease is promised alongside the difficulty, not only after it.
فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرًا
So truly where there is hardship there is also ease
Qur’an 94:5read it in the library
إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرࣰ ا
truly where there is hardship there is also ease
Qur’an 94:6read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
Reappraising hardship as something with meaning, not only something to endure, is among the surest ways to steady the heart.
Gross, J. J.; John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology doi
Cognitive reappraisal, reframing a situation, is linked to better mood, relationships and wellbeing than bottling feelings up.
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Finding meaning or benefit within adversity reliably supports coping and wellbeing.
Where this sits: Emotion regulation, cognitive reappraisal (CBT).
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
A belief you have carried since childhood will not fall over because you asked it a good question this afternoon. You are planting something, not winning an argument.
Notice when you have jumped to the worst story, and hold it as a guess, not a fact.
Imagine yourself some years from now, well past this, and let that version of you say something to you about today. Write down whatever arrives.