Welcome to this weeks installment of the year-long study “iChoose2 Love my Life” by the iBloom team. Should you care to read all the posts in this series, click {HERE}.
This week the “iChoose” focus is on being optimistic.
By definition, an optimist is “one who usually expects a favorable outcome.” A realist is “one who is inclined to literal truth and pragmatism”.
I would like to think I am an “optimistic realist”! Nothing “middle line” about that at ALL , is there?
Balance is always the key. Life should be lived somewhere between
Mary Poppins….
and Eeyeore!
“It’s snowing still,” said Eeyore gloomily.
“So it is.”
“And freezing.”
“Is it?”
“Yes,” said Eeyore. “However,” he said, brightening up a little, “we haven’t had an earthquake lately.”
― A.A. Milne
POOR Eeeyore! All he could manage to find “good” was that the world was not coming to an end! I suppose it’s better than nothing!
Keeping the balance shifted to the positive can be challenging. Every day has the potential for bad things happening.
Who can control the loss of a job, a car wreck, or the death of someone we love? No human can. We do, however have control over what our response to life’s circumstances will be.
I have NOT and am not always optimistic.
We literally years of our lives when it was one thing after another…after another….and then another moment of “shoe dropping”.
In the space of just over a year, we had:
- lost a business
- lost a house
- changed income levels with a new job
- left a church
- joined a crazy cult-like church
- had my aging grandmother move in with us
- she had a stroke
- landed in a nursing home
- participated in my sisters pretty huge wedding {THAT was the ONE good thing that year :0) }
- the husband nearly died from surgery complications
- he was out of work then for months
I could even list a few more “things” that happened within that short time.
The following three years held more of the same!
I was CONSTANTLY waiting for the other shoe to drop. Why? Because I spent more time focusing on the bad that DID happen rather than focusing on the bad that DIDN’T happen! We were not taken to court, no one died, and we were taken care of each step of the way. And even if the worst happened, what would be the good of spending endless hours dwelling on the “next worse thing”??
I missed the “mark”. I chose to become negative “Debbie Downer”.
After a while I became so weighed down with the negativity it actually effected my health. I developed active Epstein Barre syndrome, migraines, depression, and pretty much allowed myself to wallow.
It took a long time after we left an atmosphere of constant “gloom and doom” for me to be grateful for ALL of God’s goodness towards my family.
Those times may have been SO hard, but He was SO faithful. I chose NOT to focus on that.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4
I think joy has so much to do with being optimistic. Joy is that faith in knowing God is in control over all situations and that He has “my back”. Without that joy, how could we ever see things in a positive light?
I wish I could say I never feel “negative”. Like most, I have to consciously remind myself to replace negative with positive. It is easier now to see the good side of things…but I wonder…
Is it easier because life got “easier” or because I have changed my attitude in trying times? I hope it’s the latter :0).
Have you ever watched the movie “As Good As it gets”? One of my fav movies. Poor Jack Nicholson is just consumed with pessimism! A funny character, he needed to learn to “always look at the bright side” of life!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9D7w_tbtKM
The challenge this week is to focus on having an optimistic attitude. With it being February and zero sign of spring in the NE of PA, I know this is a HUGE challenge for me. I am taking it serious though…I need to keep a positive outlook.
Here is a collection of awesome optimistic quotes to help get you started!
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss
“What day is it?”
It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
My favorite day,” said Pooh.”
― A.A. Milne
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
― Anne Frank
“It takes no more time to see the good side of life than to see the bad.”
― Jimmy Buffett
“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.”
― Helen Keller
“A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.”
― George Bernard Shaw
Joining in today with the following!
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