life4seekers homepage - The 'Credit Crunch' - Coping Skills

Coping Skills

1. Seek out a supportive community. Members of your local Catholic church will make you welcome and will be happy to listen. You will not be judged.
   
   
2. What do you value that is not dependent upon possessions and money? Make a list.
   
   
3. Identify something that could be perceived as ordinary, but is special to you; this might be a flower, a sunset, a beautiful garden or something else.
   
   
4. As fearful, anxious thoughts and negative feelings come to mind, try saying a short prayer mantra such as: “My life is in the secure hands of God, who loves and cares for me.” Or: “Jesus, I trust in you. You have my situation in the palm of your hands.”
   
   
5. Set aside time for the things that might be called the ‘pearl without price’. These are things that money can’t buy such as a quality time with family and friends.
   
   
6. Take action. Make a list of practical things you can do or people that you can see to alleviate your problem(s). Then act - work your way through this list. See our practical resources.

 

Uncertainty was Jesus Christ’s (the Son of God’s) constant companion. He had no possessions to speak of, income or pension plan. Jesus taught that whilst it is by no means wrong to enjoy a bit of security, we must not put our ultimate trust in things that pass away.

 

If we put our trust in God we can discover peace and a new perspective in life. This doesn’t mean that everything is going to work out just the way that we want it to, that everything is going to be peaches and cream... It means, that, whatever happens, we believe that God is there with us and that, if we cling to him, he will bring good out of it.

 

In the darkest hours of our lives, it is faith in someone other than ourselves that can enable us to cope with our fears and uncertainties and find a new way, a new path. *

 

Perhaps think about this for a moment.

 

*Adapted from Arise From Darkness, page 46 – 47, by Fr Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R, Ignatius Press, 1995.

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