The Power of Optimism

You're off to great places,

Today is your day.

You're mountain is waiting,

So get on your way.

—Dr. Seuss

Whether you know it or not, as a good person, you put heavy reliance on three simple concepts: Faith, Hope, and Charity.

If you haven't ever thought about that concept before, consider it now: In life, you want to believe in something as it stands, you want to hope for something that may yet come, and you want to be loving towards all mankind, if only because everyone, no matter who they are, deserves to be happy in this life for whatever small moment you can give them.

You may have never thought about that last one until now. If you're thinking Wow, I totally don't fill that last qualification. I must not be a good person, you can stop right there. You may not consciously think of yourself as charitable, but I promise that you are. Have you said thank you to someone, or given them a Christmas card, or offered them your food, or helped them with a chore or assignment, or smiled at a stranger as you passed them by? Charity is not an overwhelmingly righteous concept. We use it every day, we just don't always recognize it.

With that in mind, I want to talk about Optimism. You will all fill this quota to some level, but I suspect that some people will recognize that they have a bit of a harder time with it than others. Do you struggle to believe in something you can't see, even if you want to? Do you avoid having goals and aspirations of wonderful things simply because you're not good enough for that, or maybe because you don't consider yourself worthy of it? Do you get easily exasperated with all the stupid people around you?

Hmm. You should work on that.

I struggle with all of these at times, and because I have felt them and overcome them, I know that others can do the same. And I am going to show you the secret to doing it.

The secret is this: Understanding.

Isn't it incredible that all you need to be an optimist is to understand that there really, truly, are reasons to be optimistic? Look at the world around you: do you see an ugly place, or a beautiful place? Of course there is ugliness there, but the world is incredibly beautiful. We can create life! The general humanity and intelligence of our race is unbelievably beautiful. The fact that while animals have remained in their carnal states, we have been able to slowly but surely untangle the mysteries of the universe is beautiful. How wonderful it is that we can learn almost everything about the world we live on just by looking at it! Studying it!

And think of the person nearest to your heart at this very moment. What is beautiful about them? On the inside, on the outside, in the way they speak or smile. Recognize that there are millions of people around the world that share many of their purest qualities. So why on earth can't we be optimistic, and believe that the future of the world is led by people just like the ones we love?

Life gets boring. Dull. Then hard. Without warning: tragic. “Troubles we all have, but...discouragement...is not in the trouble, it is in us.” 1. Sometimes, we are just having a bad day.

But tomorrow will be better! So even the bad days can be founded in Optimism.

Remember: Progression is the key to a happy life. If you aren't moving forward, you can be sure you're falling back. What can you do today that will make you a more faithful, hopeful, charitable, and optimistic person? What have you already done today that deserves a pat on the back? If you can't think of anything, you aren't thinking hard enough. After all, I suspect you got out of bed at some point, even if you're back in it right now.

Optimism needs nourishment, which comes in the form of the three things mentioned at the beginning of this post. Faith, Hope, and Charity also imply that other key we were talking about: Progression. You can't have Faith if you aren't thinking about something. You can't have Hope if you aren't working toward something. You can't have Charity if you aren't out there doing something.

After all, you don't climb a mountain just to sit at the top. You look for bigger and better mountains to climb. So if you're not climbing, you're not where you need to be. Faith, Hope and Charity are your supplies. And the trip is so much more beautiful when you can look at it with the refined eye of an optimist.

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What do you think? Are you ready to commit yourself to a change? Remember that if you're not conscious of the good things in life, it's really easy to return to that person you didn't want to be. There are a lot of great ideas out there for changing your outlook: Look at life as though you had a bucket, and each marginally good thing you do is a Drop of Awesome. Buy an electronic counter and keep it in your pocket, then click it every time you have a good thought about someone, including yourself. Or, just make up your own.