Optimism

Taken to its basic core, what does it mean to be optimistic?

It means to have hope – hope for the present, hope for the future, hope for your life, and hope for other people.

That’s because having a positive outlook on life demands that we think the best of our lives, our possibilities, and our future.

If you look around you, you’re going to see a lot of negative people. They’re all around – no matter where you look. They condemn each other, complain about everything, find the worst in everything and everyone. They basically go through life finding the worst.

But when you get right down to it, those negative people don’t do much else. They don’t make life better – because they think it’s going downhill. They don’t work for a positive future – because they believe the future’s not worth much, anyway. They see the dark cloud in every silver lining. They find the hole in every doughnut. They see the clouds in every rainstorm. They look at a beautiful sunset, and only see the darkening sky.

Negative people have no hope – because they “know” that everything’s hopeless.

At its very core, positive thinking – optimism, if you will – is the ability to see the best in every situation, to see the opportunity in every difficulty, the glorious future of unlimited possibilities, and the incredible life that greets us every day.

At its most basic, positive thinking is the ability to seek out hope – and find it, (or make it,) each and every day.

Positive thinkers make the difference in the world. Positive thinkers are the root of all capital investment (why would a negative thinker ever risk his money on anything?). They are the planners, the engineers, the visionaries, the trailblazers. Positive thinkers make the difference in the world – because negative thinkers believe there’s simply no way to make a difference at all.

Chicken Little was a negative thinker – but for a positive thinker, look to the Little Red Hen. Which are you??

Have a great weekend.