In his 2019 best-selling book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, author John Mark Comer unveils some wisdom that we probably all know deep down, but don't always care to admit:

"All the great wisdom traditions of history, religious and secular, Eastern and Western, Christian and not, have come together on one point: if there's a formula for a happy life, it's quite simple ― inhabit the moment."

When you have a tough day, maybe you made some mistakes or experienced poor lapses in judgment, it's critical to not beat yourself up over it. But let's clear about this, as W. Timothy Gallwey would say: "letting go of self-judgments does not mean ignoring errors. It simply means seeing events as they are and not adding anything to them."

While it's obviously harmful to look at a situation with strong negativity, merely replacing it with optimism isn't a sufficient answer. As the late mental conditional guru Trevor Moawad consistently discussed, we need to exhibit neutrality in our thinking which is neither positive nor negative; just seeing events as they are without any added emotions.

This is a really powerful concept.

Neutral thinking means to live fully in the moment, not relive old memories or worry about future possibilities. When you have a tough day, remember that it's just a bad day, not a bad life.

The reason so many people have difficulty finding happiness is because they see the past as better than it really was, and the present worse than it is really is.

Be honest with your situation. And embrace it!

The moment you are living right now is the only one you have, so the best way forward is always to be where your feet are.