Embracing Optimism

Contentment

“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It’s what you think about.”

                                  Dale Carnegie

         We’re nine days into 2012, so it’s about time for my negativity vs. optimism speech. I try to write about it at least once a quarter because I believe it is the key to almost everything. Mohammad Ali said, “It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to beliefs. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” I agree. Right now in America, we’re swimming in a broth of negativity-about our economy, about our politics, about our way of life, and on and on. While some of these negatives may be true, it is not helpful to wallow in them. I have become adept at hitting the mute button on my TV when a negative political ad comes on, because I don’t need any more negative messages piled on to the ones already ingested. We don’t serve ourselves by bellyaching and backbiting.

         As I’ve said many times before, negativity is a habit and habits can be broken. Everyone from Marcus Aurelius, (‘Your life is what your thoughts make it.’), to John Lubbock, (‘What we see depends mainly on what we look for.’) to Oprah Winfrey, (‘I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.’) agrees that we create our world by the way we think. If we think negative, paranoid thoughts and that’s what we feed ourselves all day long, then our orientation toward life will be fearful and hostile. If we refuse to fall into this trap, then no matter what is going on around us, we feel content.

         Optimism is the basis for a happy life. I don’t say this as a flippant overstatement. I have had bouts of depression and significant losses in my life. I know what it is to be sad and frightened. But, the way out of dark places is basic trust in the goodness of life. If we can’t say that today is a good day, at least we can say, I know it will get better. It isn’t the life around us that creates happiness; it is the life within us.

         Today, limit the number of negative thoughts you allow into your mind. When you hear one, say, “Get out!” and banish it from the castle. See yourself as the Red Queen if that makes you smile. Replace it with a positive alternative. You’ll feel better, I guarantee. 

                          In the spirit,

                          Jane