The latin expression ‘Dum Spiro, Spero’ literally translates into “While I Breathe, I Hope’ and is
an expression that underpins the need for optimism if there is life, and one still draws a breath.
Every new day, every new week, every new month and every new year is a fresh opportunity to
take stock, change direction if necessary and work hard towards actualizing one’s goals and
objectives.
Some key emotional attributes are essential to fully benefit from this optimistic view and
attitude to everyday life. These fall within the spectrum of positive psychology and some of
these traits are briefly highlighted here.
a) Hope: This is the bedrock of positive psychology, and it can be a very powerful force for
good and a source of inner strength and endurance as well as sacrifice. The thought of
better days to 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
b) Emotional intelligence: This simply refers to your ability to understand your own
emotion, as well as understand the emotions of others around you – especially family,
friends, colleagues and others with whom you are engaged with in some for. The
highest benefit of emotional intelligence is to deploy such improved understanding to
improve interpersonal relationships such as by acquiring empathy, aiming to please
others and avoiding actions (or inactions) that may cause them distress, misery or
unhappiness.
c) Resilience: The ability to bounce back in the face of adversity and setbacks is described
as resilience. An understanding that life occurs in phases and that good days and bad
days come and go for every man, helps to develop resilience when going through
challenges or difficulties.
d) Gratitude: Appreciation of the good qualities, gifts and positives in one’s life or situation
is more likely to improve the chances of a positive outlook towards life. This provides
inner satisfaction and joy and improves quality of life.
Discussion
As we wind down 2024 and look forward towards a new year, we need to press pause and
ponder on some of these realities. We cannot continue to do things in the same way, every
year and hope for different outcomes. So, what do we need to do differently?
The common tendency is to end the year with a litany of concerns about all the unfinished
businesses, unsatisfied hopes and aspirations or missed opportunities that went by in the
outgoing year. Very seldom do we pause to also count our blessings and successes in the
outgoing year, and to show gratitude for them. Thus, we reflect on what could have been, and
rue missed opportunities, and we agonize about what we could have done differently. Of
course, it is a no-brainer that if you focus exclusively on the negatives and where things didn’t
work out as you had hoped, you will be 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 as
well as the negatives so we can have a balanced view of our successes as well as areas where
we didn’t quite succeed as we would have wanted. One critical but often overlooked area of
gratitude for instance, is being alive and in good health. We often take our health for granted
until we have a challenge in one area or the other.
Asido Foundation’s Gratitude Challenge
It is in the context of the foregoing that the Asido Foundation runs an annual Gratitude
Challenge #asidogratitudechallenge2024 that is aimed at nudging us to acknowledge and list
our successes and things we should be grateful for in the outgoing year. Emotional wellness is
directly linked to a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the positives in our lives. This is
achieved by the release of feel-good chemicals that promote a sense of emotional wellbeing
and contentment, as well as enhancing optimism for the future. We encourage everyone to
participate in this challenge, by reflecting on, and posting a list of 5 – 10 things that we are
grateful for in the outgoing year. Please post on social media, use the hashtag asidogratitudechallenge2024 and encourage others to also do likewise between the 27th and 31st December. So, let’s end the year on a thankful note with the Asido Gratitude Challenge. And look forward to 2025, encouraged by the dictum, ‘dum spiro, spero’.
Together, let’s make the world a better place….one person at a time.
Dr Jibril Abdulmalik
Tribune Article for the column “Your Mental Health & You”
Thursday, 26th December 2024
Asido Foundation
www.asidofoundation.com
Asivuri Consulting
www.asivuri.com
