High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘optimism’

.

When the world is painted in browns and grays, be the touch of red that gives it color.  When silence fills the forest, be its song.

Fling your radiance into the gloom.  Be the dazzle.  Be the light.  Unfurl your shine.

Be the word of encouragement, the voice of optimism, the touch of kindness that makes smooth the tangled path.

Be the laughter that dissolves the dullness, the sparkle that reawakens joy.  Be the difference that changes things.

Send your confident music out into the void.  Bring the sun back.  Open the sky.

Be the song.

.

None of it matters:  Where you were born, who your parents are, how tough you had it growing up, how many boulders you had to climb over, what the competition is doing.

What matters is whether you’ve got heart, how much you want to be, how deep you’re willing to dive into the life force within you, what stories you believe and tell.

Especially the stories.  You either got excuses or reasons.  It’s up to you.  You either let it get you or you don’t.  You see people who came from the sorriest of life’s lot wearing medals, champions risen from the dregs.  What kinds of stories do you suppose they listened to and chanted in the dead of night?  Tell yourself those kinds of stories.

The ones who win life’s prizes don’t let a missing leg or drunken dad or empty wallet tell them that the whole deck of cards is stacked against them.  They see what they have, not what they don’t.

If they stumble, they don’t decide they’re worthless.  They tie their shoes or watch out for cracks and keep on with the race.  They remember the times they did well, beat the pack, sunk the putt, hit the target, aced the test.  They believe in themselves.  They tell themselves “I can,” and “I will.”

They fly the banners of hope and high expectations.  They eat optimism for breakfast and dine on their victories at night, and even if the victories are small, they find enough of them to make a satisfying meal.

Life is for the brave.  It sings like a riot of trumpets for the ones with the daring and guts to keep going even when things are tough.  And it sends happiness to dwell in their hearts and applauds them with standing ovations.

“An optimist is the human personification of spring.” ~Susan J. Bissonette

Spring is like the Energizer bunny:  It just keeps going, and going, and going.  Even this week’s cold spell and storms haven’t stopped it.  The flowers keep coming, regardless, and my winter-starved eyes are feasting in their unfolding colors.

Susan Bissonette was right on target in linking optimism and spring.  Both the season and the human trait sing of resilience and renewal.  Despite setbacks, they’re undaunted.  They weather the storms.  They’re filled with purpose.  They trust in the life force that pushes its vision into realization through their willingness to keep on keeping on.

Believing there’s a summer ahead and the potential for a bountiful harvest, you put setbacks in perspective.  You may be damaged and bruised, but something beautiful lies ahead, and you know it in the depths of your being, even when you can’t quite see exactly how it will work out.

I watched the flowers in the cold rain.  They curled inward and surrendered to its force.  After it passed and the sun’s rays once again caressed them, they opened and bathed themselves in its light.  And even though their petals were weakened and their stems bent, they pushed into the light and, basking in its comfort and power, were made whole and beautiful again.

Spring always follows winter.  Dawn always follows night.  When life brings its setbacks and storms, remember that.  Be like a flower in the rain.  Be an optimist.  Keep the faith.

Happiness isn’t all bluebirds and rainbows, you know.  It’s not a Pollyanna, pie-in-the-sky attitude, devoid of a realistic view of life.  It’s more like a ribbon that wends its way through layers and layers of being.

Happiness is believing that, despite the circumstances in which we happen to find ourselves, somehow everything is working together for good, and that if we keep on keeping on, we’ll see that good and feel it in the depths of our bones.

Once happiness embeds itself in us, it acts like a kind of gyroscope, helping us keep our bearings even when we’re sailing storm-tossed waters.  It helps us keep our challenges in perspective, to see setbacks as temporary, to remember our strengths and capabilities.  Happiness is empowering.

Happy people tend to be optimists.  That’s not to say they’re blind to problems.  But they carry within them a measure of hope, a suspicion that seeds of progress and opportunity lie hidden in every adversity.  And that suspicion keeps them on the look-out for slivers of light in the darkness.

Happiness helps us keep our minds open for the glimmerings of fresh ideas.  It fosters our creativity.

It keeps us from accepting defeat, and encourages us to rise again when situations temporarily knock us down.  It helps us claim our resilience.

When happiness becomes your accustomed orientation toward life, you look for reasons to let it express itself.  You seek opportunities to appreciate, to be grateful, to be kind, to love.

Such is the depth of happiness, and the treasure of it.  Practice happiness.  It will touch your days with joy, and light your seasons of darkness.

“An optimist,” said Mark Twain, “is a person who travels on nothing from nowhere to happiness.”   Starting from anywhere you are, with nothing but a hope in your pocket, you can peek over the horizon and guess that you’ll find happiness there.  And guessing, expecting, hoping could be all you need to find it.

So much depends on expectations, on what you’re looking to find.  Expect that you’ll find a way, and it’s likely that you will.  Expect the best of yourself, and you’re likely to rise to the occasion.  Expect opportunity and you’re likely to prepare.  Optimism empowers; pessimism defeats.  Optimism lifts; pessimism casts down.

Happiness chooses hope.  It looks toward spring and morning.  It wraps itself in faith and steps through the doorway.  Starting right from nowhere, it spins itself into the future with confidence, filled with anticipation of new possibilities for expressing itself with joy.  It builds nest.  It keeps its tools sharpened, its windows polished and its shoes shined.

Happiness sees the seeds of hope in every failure and opportunity in every challenge.  It looks for the silver lining and sees blessings regardless of the disguises they wear.  In trust, it puts on its smile and gives itself to the moment with gusto.  It looks for what it can achieve.  And regardless of the turns the road may take, optimism has more fun along the way.