Why is life so hard?

I haven’t met the person who has everything easy in their life. Even people who appear to have everything, if you follow them home, they may have a partner who isn’t kind or financial worries or other difficulties.

I believe we are meant to experience challenges and to learn how to overcome them. They are not about having big houses and fast cars but more about how we interact with other people or how you treat yourself.

How do I feel joy rather than life is all hard work?

Living a good life is often about taking pleasure from the smallest of things.

This could be the delight of freshly squeezed orange on a hot summer’s day. It is a state of mind that enables you to notice and enjoy the joy of these gifts in your life. Too often we are so busy we forget to slow down and enjoy the moment. The moment passes you bye and the potential for joy is lost.

What can I do to help create those moments?

Creative activities I have noticed bring people good feelings.

Bringing forth something from your inner landscape into the world often gives you great satisfaction. Yet as a society we do not seem to value such activities. Our education has squeezed the time given to music, arts, crafts, wood work and other similar activities in our schools. We are effectively teaching our young not to value them. All children in my view should be given the opportunity to experience them through their growing years. My step children are very talented in art and music. They tried to forge careers in them but it was very hard to make a living. This re-enforced the view our society no longer values creativity.

As adults we can choose to spend time and energy on creative activities.

In times gone by everybody used to sing. Each Sunday in our churches we would sing together. It feels good to draw a big breath and to sing. You hear your own voice and those of your community. Perhaps the nearest we get to this now are the songs in the football stadiums used by fans to support their team.

Harmonising together in song increases the harmony in the community.

Many of us are too shy to share something we have created for fear of criticism or rejection. It’s hard to say look at my first draft of a book, painting, handmade clothes or anything else you may wish to bring into the world.

You learn by doing something and seeing what does or doesn’t work.

The next version will be all the better. But if we criticise each other’s creations, that second version will never be born.

When we are raising children, we give them great encouragement in all they do and create. It would be good if we continued to do this with each other into our adult lives. The world would be much richer for it.

Try a creative activity and see if it eases the stress of today’s living.