The Latin expression 'Dum Spiro, Spero' literally translates to “While I breathe, I hope” and is an expression that supports the need for optimism if there is life and we are still breathing. Every new day, every new week, every new month and every new year is a new opportunity to take stock, change direction if necessary and work hard to make one's goals and objectives a reality.
Some key emotional attributes are essential to fully benefit from this optimistic outlook and attitude towards everyday life. These fall within the spectrum of positive psychology and some of these traits are briefly highlighted here.
Hope: This is the basis of positive psychology and can be a very powerful force for good and a source of inner strength and resilience, as well as sacrifice. The idea that better days will come and the possibility of doing better in the near future gives hope and is an infinite source of potential strength. Of course, this should be realistic.
Emotional Intelligence – This simply refers to your ability to understand your own emotions, as well as the emotions of those around you, especially family, friends, colleagues, and others with whom you are engaged. The greatest benefit of emotional intelligence is to deploy that improved understanding to improve interpersonal relationships, for example by gaining empathy, trying to please others, and avoiding actions (or inactions) that may cause them distress, misery, or unhappiness.
Resilience: The ability to bounce back in the face of adversity and setbacks is described as resilience. Understanding that life occurs in phases and that good and bad days come and go for every man, helps to develop resilience when going through challenges or difficulties.
Gratitude: Appreciating the good qualities, gifts, and positive aspects of one's life or situation is more likely to improve one's chances of having a positive outlook on life. This provides inner satisfaction and joy and improves the quality of life.
Discussion
As we enter the new year, we must pause and reflect on some of these realities. We cannot continue doing things the same way every year and expect different results. So what should we do differently?
The common tendency is to end the year with a litany of worries about all the unfinished business, unfulfilled hopes and aspirations, or missed opportunities that passed by during the outgoing year. Very rarely do we stop to also count our blessings and successes in the outgoing year and show gratitude for them. So we reflect on what could have been, lament missed opportunities, and agonize over what we could have done differently. Of course, it's a no-brainer that if you focus exclusively on the negative and things that didn't go the way you expected, you'll feel miserable and unhappy.
It is essential that we take a step back, take a deep breath and put things in the right perspective as we evaluate our lives, or simply the outgoing year, and list all our positives and negatives so that we can have a balanced view of our life. successes, as well as areas in which we were not as successful as we would have liked. A critical but often overlooked area of gratitude, for example, is being alive and in good health. We often take our health for granted until we have a challenge in one area or another.
Asido Foundation Gratitude Challenge
It is in the context of the above that the Asido Foundation organizes an annual Gratitude Challenge #asidogratitudechallenge2024 that aims to prompt us to recognize and list our successes and the things we should be grateful for in the outgoing year. Emotional well-being is directly related to a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the positive aspects of our lives. This is achieved by releasing chemicals that promote a sense of emotional well-being and satisfaction, as well as improving optimism for the future. We encourage everyone to participate in this challenge by reflecting and posting a list of five to ten things we are grateful for over the past year. Post on social media, use the hashtag #asidogratitudechallenge2024 and encourage others to do the same. We look forward to the year 2025, encouraged by the saying: “dum spiro, spero.” Together, let's make the world a better place, one person at a time.