Positive Entry 2010 -10 Optimism vs. Pessimism -

OPTIMISM VS PESSIMISM

This subject is constantly coming up in my mind. I'm a proponent of optimism but not so much that you become delusional. I do believe that thoughts can lead to actions - good thoughts to good actions and bad thoughts to bad actions. I wanted to learn more about what others thought and began surfing the internet and ran across some interesting articles on the subject.



One article was written by a Nick Shultz - you can read it in it's entirety at this link:
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-improvement-articles/optimism-vs-pessimism-102077.html
In his closing, Nick talks about the importance of taking productive action along with having an optimistic attitude. He mentions a women he knew that had a pessimistic approach by expecting the worst to happen so that she would be surprised when something good happened. All too true in my experience, is that in the meantime while 'waiting' for the surprise, she was miserable. I'm with Nick - be optimistic, enjoy life, take the productive action to make it so!

Thanks, Nick! Smiles to you.



What about the Operation Nice posts by Melissa? One of my favorite bloggers.

There is the post which highlights the optimism of an 11 year old, named Jessica, who raised money by founding a charity at such a young age. The Charity was called 'Richards Rwanda' and was established by her to educate Rwandan young girls and successfully raised $75,000. Here is the link: http://www.operationnice.com/2010/02/nice-news-making-difference-at-14.htmlto that site. It has a CNN video interview on the site with her at 14 years of age.

Melissa has posted many times about positive effort and the productivity of optimism especially in times when tragedy strikes. She did a series of what she called Nice Campaings. A particular post about the tragic accident of a young girl and the resulting response by a friend to send out a 'Hey You'all' was very touching . In this little gesture the vitality and personality of the young girl lives on. Here is the link to that post: http://www.operationnice.com/2010/04/nice-campaign-hey-yall-day.html it's a worthwhile read.

Thanks, Melissa! Smiles to you!



I can't write about optimism without mentioning the Positivity Blog. Henrik Edberg. On his post: Take the Positivity Challenge: http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/02/09/take-the-positivity-challenge/ He goes into the rationale of why people aren't more positive. Some thought provoking and common sense answers to that are posted as well as some tips on how to be more positive.

Smiles to you Henrik!



It seems to me that life is just better if we look at the bright side and keep moving forward instead of sliding back into the past, revisiting the could of's, would of's and should of's that might have been.

A quick recap:

• Be productive as well as have a positive attitude
• Look to the future good that you can do
• Don't look back, the past is past and it wasn't meant to be dwelt upon

I'll end with, Smiles to you, the readers!

Maria

Positive Entry 2010 - 3 Harp Orchestra

A Harp Orchestra for your Inspiration

Sometimes I feel like a very small voice in the wilderness on my blog, but that's ok. These entries may be solitary ones, like a tree that rustles in the deep woods for a little while. I hope to gather a faithful following of friends that benefit from these entries some day...as they say persistance pays off! The inspirations that come may be a bit haphazard yet I am compelled to continually share them. I really can't help it. In the case of this entry I am writing about something that I have found to be of importance to me for some reason. The subject of Harps. Harps are so amazing. I found this YouTube harp presentation to be amazingly soothing and pretty. I"m learning to play a harp...you can see a photo of me with it below. It's a slow process but I'm getting there.... It takes practice and positive thinking to master any skill. You never know where it will take you.

The orchestra is young but together with the flutes, chimes and violins the buildup at the end is really nice! Enjoy.

and then there is this wonderful harpist, Katrina, who absolutely knows how to strum the strings in this beautiful rendition of the Wedding March as if she were an angel - listen for the grand finale:





Ending with me and my harp...dreaming of playing those tunes some day!



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My positive fixes - entry 2009 - 02

PINK ROSE of ELEGANCE - HENRIK EDBERG

This is my second post on my positive fixes. I feel compelled
to seek out things which are positive and optimistic. We have too
much attention on the cyniscism in the world. I feel that more
energy needs to be expended on the bright and useful thinking
surrounding us. While it's not good to bury one's head in the
sand like the proverbial ostriche it's also not good to dwell on
what is wrong all the time. That's why we have backup plans.
In any case I am convinced that a focus on the positive in the
moment will help us to avoid the negative in the moment and
thus in the future as well.

My entry today is a spotlight on a blogger who continually inspires.
I am completely impressed with this positive thinker!
Henrik Edberg is the blogger and his intention is to write
about all sorts of positive things that might help people.

He writes in the entry at this link:
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2009/11/20/9-life-lessons-i-have-learned-from-blogging/
about his tips on blogging.

Who couldn't use some good blogging tips.

He covers 9 lessons he's learned about life
through his blogging. To wet your curiousity appetite here
are the titles of the nine lessons ----------------
(he has some great explanations for each one on his site):



1) Don't wait for Inspiration
2) More work less talk
3) Learn from people with more experience
4) You need to set limits and just focus on what is important
5) You get what you give
6) More external validation won't save you
7) Ideas and insights are fleeting
8) How you present it makes a big difference
9) Don't think about what everyone else may think

I enjoy Henrik's candor and his indepth writings. Maybe you
will too. He identified not just two or three lessons but nine!!!!!
I felt that all were great but I especially liked 1), 2), 5) and 7).
The images he chooses for his entries are always very intriguing
to me as well. Whether you agree with these lessons or not,
after reading his descriptions you might find your own life
enriched a little after visiting his blog. I know I did. I'm very much
of the thinking if just even one person is helped that is success!
It always makes me think..what if...?

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My positive fixes - entry 2009 - 01 - 3 bloggers of note

THREE BLOGGERS OF NOTE:

I sometimes visit my favorite blogs, twitters or facebooks and get some wonderful ideas and links to help satisfy my addiction to positive things. Whenever I visit a site which I think is positive or inspiring I have been trying to find a way to capture that for the future. I tend to jump around a lot so that I lose track in my travels between blogs, comments and sites sometimes and have been trying to think of ways to capture these entries for later visiting. I don't want to lose them.

Ta da! I found a way to keep that thread by periodically blogging about their blog, site or twitter. I can note why I think that the entries are a positive force and an antidote to my affliction with Positive thinking. Yes, I say it is like the caffiene for my coffee. Sometimes I need to revisit these places and when I can't find them again I feel a sense of loss. Hopefully, no longer will this be a problem as I begin to capture these visits on my blog from now on! I also love to number things. That's keeping me organized as well. Notice that this entry title is numbered Positive fix 2009-01. ( I don't think I'll get past 99 before December). (An addiction to numbers can be a bit much I admit, but I love to number things to for tracking and find them later. I have some latent Librarian desires and tendencies...don't even get me started on the Dewey Decimal system....hmmm, I haven't thought about that for a long time.)

Today I'm going to honor three sites that had blogs or ideas I thought were especially fit for getting a positive fix (besides mine of course...LOL):

1) Operation Nice - a great blog entry about doing nice things. See the link on my sidebar to the right? It says I'm very nice, with the link: http://www.operationnice.com/ I want to bring your attention to a particular entry on the blog that I connected with immediately at this link: http://www.operationnice.com/2009/10/i-did-my-assignment.html#links Melissa, the blogger made Halloween cards and candy bags and handed them out to her favorite Starbuck's employees as a random act of kindness. I connected with it because I did something little similar to this at a restaurent I went to on Halloween day. I had these little photo cards that had the cutest pumpkins on the front and some Halloween humor inside: "What is the ratio of a Jack-O-Lantern's circumference to it's Diameter? Answer: Pumpkin Pi! " After our meal and as I was leaving I slipped one of these cards on the table with a hand written 'thank-you from a customer' inside along side humor. ...I also made one out for my Physical Therpist the day before and handed it to her as I was leaving. It's nice way of both extending appreciation and gratitude.

Reading over Melissa's blog I got routed to another site whose photography and posts are most inspiring:

2) The site is entitled: 'Be yourself - Everyone else is taken' by Beth. It is a collection of photos and poems and just positive and inspiring peices. In particular is this one which caught my eye and heart: http://moredoors.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-dont-ever-want-to-judgedo-you.html Here Beth was walking along in and saw some kids having fun and laughing and figured out how to interact with them in the most amazing way with her photography. They all seemed to have fun and when all was said and done it left me smiling. You can find more on her post by Clicking on the 2009 in the right hand column of the post.

3) At the bottom of the Be Yourself site I found another link to tryout. See how my thread gets woven with jumping from one site to the next? It's all good but very time consuming. This new site is inspiring to me because I am hooked on numbers and time management ideas. I am not saying I'm especially great at this but it is a obsession of mine. Couple this with an engaging photographer and new ideas and I'm hooked. Have you ever seen a Human Calendar? Here you go: http://www.humancalendar.com/ To read about this just click on the calendar or go to http://www.humancalendar.com/about.php The link is cool because it actually changes when the calendar changes..you will see that is should be reading the current month! It is so much fun. The author/programmer Craig D. Giffin also has a human clock site: http://www.humanclock.com/ I am just too inspired.

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Light your day with Smiles

Identify at least 20 + ways to reduce stress by focusing on what makes you smile. These are opportunities for both Home and Work implementations.. I thought I would publish my list because I was reviewing it today and I'm way past 20! Just reading the list makes me smile.

1. Jasmine (my daughter)

2. Ron (my guy)

3. nature walk

4. flowers

5. rollerblading

6. music pachebel

7. swans

8. photography

9. calligraphy

10. jewelry

11. sparkles

12. sunsets or sunrises

13. Fire in the fireplace

14. little red doll I made (make more!)

15. valentines

16. gazebos

17. french doors

18. Little cottages

19. Beaches

20. Palm trees

21. writing card or letter

22. making gifts for people

23. scrapbooking

24. markets

25. candles

26. clean room

27. other people smiling

28. my mom's talents and smile

29. my dad's smile and organization skills

30. my sister Kathy's talents and patience

31. inspirational cards/posters/photos

32. birthdays, mine and others

33. exercising with Karlyne

34. shopping at Costco with Ron

35. Ron's dinners

36. Watching Soccer

37. Movies - Charming dramas,mystery

38. Movies - good music - August Rush (music)

39. Music - Classical, Easy Jazzy, Pop Rock,

40. Music - Christmas, choirs,

41. Music - Strings - Guitars, Violins, Bass,

42. Music - Flutes, Harps, Dulcimers

43. Music - Bells

44. Music - Church singing

45. Mexico

46. California

47. Arizona

48. Florida

49. Washington

50. East Coast USA

51. West Coast USA

52. Oregon

53. Waterfalls

Light of the day

Decided to change my blog header photo to something more appropriate to thinking positively. Of course I love quotes that are uplifting as well. When I get up in the morning I love to see the sun rising if I can. Our bedroom has a window which faces east, making that much easier to do for the most part. However, this is Seattle and there are many gray and foggy mornings. Surprisingly, there are many sunny and bright mornings as well in the area. The one thing I do when I'm on vacation is watch the sunset. I'm usually too tired to see the sunrise and sometimes the sunsets are just easier to see since the sun sets in the west and we tend to vacation on the Pacific Coast.

Here is a great photo of a sunrise I caught on a recent vacation in the Cruise port coming into Mazatlan.

Talk about lighting the day. It was a great start to a fun day. I wish I knew the answers to lighting tomorrow with today for everyone. I know that the seeds we sow each day are what germinate and manifest themselves for the future. I'm a strong believer in the thought that letting your light shine through each day can't help but light tomorrow for you and those around you. Doing something nice today...what a great idea!