FAQs

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is a place to practice giving gratitude. Practicing gratitude has been shown to help with at least the following benefits:

• Improved immunity
• Improved emotional state
• A feeling of fulfillment, contentment
• Increased optimism
• A better self-esteem
• A better feeling of being in control over your life
• And a lot more

While this isn't a place for a comprehensive list, you could refer to lots of sites that provide details of : http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/

FAQs:

• What is this site?
  Ans: This is a place where you can practice gratitude. Simply pick a question, and write down expressions of gratitude as answers
  
  
• What are these questions?
  Ans: Anyone can post a question based on their recent life events or anything that's making them feel like their life is not okay. It has to be an event that is bothering your mind and it has to start with "How is life okay...". For example, these are all valid questions:
  • "How is life okay.. when I had an accident?",
  • "How is life okay.. after I lost my close friend?",
  • "How is life okay.. even after I work till 11pm everyday". 
    
    
• What are the answers like?
  Ans: Anyone can post answers to the questions. The answers need to point out something good that can be present in the OP's situation. The silver-linings. It can be anything. For example, if the question is "How is life okay after I broke my leg?", then valid answers can be
  • "But I'm still able to walk and go to work, just not run or drive",
  • "But I'm still able to do my work - with my hands",
  • "I still have my friends"
  The important thing to remember, is that as you make progress through the answers are only limited to your imagination.
  
  
• If people point out silver linings for me then will my problem be solved/will I be filled up with enthusiasm and positivity?
  Ans: If feeling better about your life can be rated on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is "I just exhaled after reading the response" and 10 is "I felt much better about my life after reading the response", then you would be somewhere in-between. Relax. That is normal. Some responses will click with you and some responses won't. However, each point will make you feel a little better about your life. Think of these as baby-steps towards a more positive you.
  
  
• I'm angry about my problem and if someone tells me silver-linings to my situation then will it make me positive? /  I received some responses but they don't feel so positive. They just decrease my pain but don't make me positive.
  Ans: Silver linings will NOT convert you into a magical positive unicorn. If you were very depressed, then chances are that the responses will uplift you a little bit and make the pain easier to take (which is not bad and might be enough to get you to start taking action in your life). If you were feeling neutral then you are likely to feel slightly better. Likewise, if you were already happy then you'll feel happier. You don't know how positive or happier you will become. However, each time you practice finding or reading about your silver lining, you will tend towards being more positive or happier than your current state.
  
  
• Aren't you're denying the pain that I expressed in the question? I'm going through so much pain and everyone is replying as if everything is fine in my life.
  Ans: If you feel this way then you are not ready right now to see the silver linings. A lot of bad things can happen in our lives and sometimes, it's like we've fallen into a dark pit and gotten stuck there. It can feel like things will never get better and we'll remain stuck forever. Sometimes, you are in situations that need immediate problem-solving, or, you could be angry, anxious, frustrated or depressed. You need to give it sometime so that you can be a little distant from the problem.
  It's only after you've cooled down a little that you will be able to accept the silver linings in your situation. 
  
  
• I received a couple of silver linings for my situation, but they're not relevant to my life. 
  Ans: Yes. Since the answers are all crowd-sourced, not all of them will be applicable to you. However, as you browse through the answers, you will be able to find answers that do apply to your life as well. If you browse questions posted by someone else, then you will still find more situations & silver linings that apply to your life.
  
  
• What are the benefits of showing other user's their silver linings? 
  Ans: Apart from helping them feel better about their lives, you are also enabling yourself to spot silver linings. It is just like playing a sport. In the beginning you aren't so good at it. But as you keep practicing it, you get better. Similiarily, it is with the practice of finding silver linings too. Initially you might be unconciously practicing it rarely in your life or even not doing it at all. But as you keep spotting it for other people, you develop your own skills and get better at it in your own life.
  Another thing to remember, is that it's always easier to spot silver linings for other's problems and more difficult to spot it in our own. However, as you keep practicing and helping out others, you will find that ocassions where somewhere it resonates with your life too, and it is highly likely that you will become stronger in your own life as well. As you keep answering, as you get more adept at spotting silver-linings, you will likely find your own life feels happier.

Rules:

1. Your question must be an extension of "How is my life okay when/after/before/while/or something similar.
   
   
2. All answers must start as an extension of "But I still have.. / This might be an opportunity for me to.. / However, on the other hand.. / or something similar.
   
   
3. All answers must be in the first person. Although you are replying to someone else's question, don't reply with "you". All "you"s must be replaced by "I"s. For example "But I still got severence pay" - as if the event happened to you and you're practicing finding silver linings.
   
   
4. Do not enage in any kind of illegal activity.
   
   
5. Do not engage in witch-hunts, or post any other kind of personally-identifiable information for anyone else.
   
   
6. No hateful speech, personal vendettas, violence, bullying, trolling, insults, flaming etc. Any person found to be committing repeated offences will be banned from the site.
   
   
7. Do not start a flame-war. If someone is being breaking rules then just report them and let the mods handle it.
   
   
8. Do report spam posts. The moderators cannot read every single post. Any spam posts that you report helps everyone.
   
   
9. Do not post ads, personal-promotions, clickbaits or linkjacking to your posts that don't add any extra info.
   
   
10. Do not make any personal attacks on other posters.
    
    
11. Do not make any posts in FULL CAPS.
    
    
12. Do not post comments merely announcing your upvote/downvote because they don't add to any discussion.
    
    
13. Do not repost a question that has already been asked.
    
    
14. You must be open to discovering the positive things about whatever you post.
    
    
15. No posts are allowed around racism, rape, suicide, death, political parties.
    
    

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