Thursday; January 19

Are we optimists or pessimists? (No, I will not allow you to substitute “realist” for “pessimist”.) Do we tend to look forward to what is possible or do we live in fear of the dangers and failures the future holds? I used to think of myself as an optimist, but if I were completely honest with myself I am probably leaning more towards the other end of the scale.

Interestingly, neither optimism nor pessimism has anything to do with reality or fact. Since, by definition, they deal with something that hasn’t happened, they are based on perception so we get to choose how we will look at life. It’s not about “facts”, it is a manifestation of “faith”.

There are a lot of elements that factor into our default perspective – including personality and past experiences – but in the end we get to decide our general attitude. So, if we get to choose optimism or pessimism, why should we choose to be negative? Wouldn’t it be more fun and more exciting to perceive the glass as half full? Imagine how much time we would save on worrying about the future if we automatically assumed things were going to work out for the best?

Transforming from a negative to a positive outlook is not easy and will require rewiring our thought process, but it is worth it. Since we cannot “will” the events of the future we might as well approach them with hope. Sure, there will be some things that don’t materialize the way we’d like and we will have to deal with them; yet, if we begin with a positive outlook, we will have a lot more energy to invest in those thing that need correcting.

Are we ready to enjoy more relaxing times? Let’s adjust our internal radar to default to the good that could happen rather than the bad that might happen.

Think About It!

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