OPTIMIST KEEPS HOPES ALIVE
By Olivene Godfrey
It's been said that an optimist is someone who can fall 10 stories and call out at each floor in passing that everything is okay so far. It's also been said that an optimist isn't realistic and that when his dreams or plans fail to materialize he is more deeply crushed than the pessimist.
I've always been an optimist, even in my darkest moments. And, there have been times when I think without my belief that things have to get better, I could not have survived.
Now, the pessimist believes it is better to look for the worst so as to be pleasantly surprised when things are better than expected. We all know people like that. Then, if they are as bad as he feared they would be he won't be disappointed. (To me that is a terrible way to live.)
Only the optimist can dare to believe there are things waiting for discovery and further development. When he dreams outside the limits of ordinary thinking, he isn't just daydreaming. There can be no advancement when people expect the worst.
The optimist isn't unrealistic. He questions life the same as the pessimist. The difference is that he knows there has to be an answer and he has confidence he will find it. He knows that the cherries that life is supposed to be a bowl of have pits. Be, he knows the pits can be removed and his mind doesn't dwell on the pits but on the deliciousness of the cherries.
Our attitudes, emotions, and beliefs tend to become habitual. In the past we learned that certain attitudes, ways of thinking and feeling were appropriate to certain situations. So we blindly continue to think, feel and act the same way whenever we encounter similar situations.
Now. habits, unlike addictions, can be easily changed if we are willing to take the trouble to make a conscious decision and then practice the new response or behavior. I don't say it would be easy for a pessimist to become an optimist. But, being an optimist, I say it is possible. (After all, I did give up some lifetime bad habits within recent times.)
We need to accept ourselves as we are and go on from there. We can change and it isn't being conceited to have confidence and faith that we can surmount obstacles and realize our possibilities.
See you next time.
By Olivene Godfrey
It's been said that an optimist is someone who can fall 10 stories and call out at each floor in passing that everything is okay so far. It's also been said that an optimist isn't realistic and that when his dreams or plans fail to materialize he is more deeply crushed than the pessimist.
I've always been an optimist, even in my darkest moments. And, there have been times when I think without my belief that things have to get better, I could not have survived.
Now, the pessimist believes it is better to look for the worst so as to be pleasantly surprised when things are better than expected. We all know people like that. Then, if they are as bad as he feared they would be he won't be disappointed. (To me that is a terrible way to live.)
Only the optimist can dare to believe there are things waiting for discovery and further development. When he dreams outside the limits of ordinary thinking, he isn't just daydreaming. There can be no advancement when people expect the worst.
The optimist isn't unrealistic. He questions life the same as the pessimist. The difference is that he knows there has to be an answer and he has confidence he will find it. He knows that the cherries that life is supposed to be a bowl of have pits. Be, he knows the pits can be removed and his mind doesn't dwell on the pits but on the deliciousness of the cherries.
Our attitudes, emotions, and beliefs tend to become habitual. In the past we learned that certain attitudes, ways of thinking and feeling were appropriate to certain situations. So we blindly continue to think, feel and act the same way whenever we encounter similar situations.
Now. habits, unlike addictions, can be easily changed if we are willing to take the trouble to make a conscious decision and then practice the new response or behavior. I don't say it would be easy for a pessimist to become an optimist. But, being an optimist, I say it is possible. (After all, I did give up some lifetime bad habits within recent times.)
We need to accept ourselves as we are and go on from there. We can change and it isn't being conceited to have confidence and faith that we can surmount obstacles and realize our possibilities.
See you next time.
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