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
