Is the glass half full or half empty? Depends on who you ask. For the eternal optimist, the glass is and always be half full, but for the latter, the doubtfuls of the world, a half empty glass is fine by them. In my own litmus test for life, I choose A, the ever-optimist.
Why wouldn't I choose to be hopeful in a world where hate, despair and ignorance are too often the norm. A little reliance on positivity may just be what the doctor ordered. In the face of adversity and disappointments I elect to not only look at the brighter side, but also to be the change I want to see in the world. I am not saying that I will be the next Mother Theresa, far from it, but I am banging away at being better. I am striving to be the change I want to see in my world.
If fortunate enough to have those elders that fill us with wisdom from childhood, we can recall being told: "roll with the punches", "what doesn't kill us makes stronger", and the list of cliches goes on and on. However, as children do we really understand the depth of those words, let alone the impact they may have on us as adults. And is it really as forthright as just accepting the advice of our predessors and living a better quality of life or not? Who knows. Maybe it can be as simple and enpowering as listening to "Gonna Fly Now", also known as the Rocky Theme song, but what does it all mean? I think they were meant to serve as guidelines to keep our faith in order to prevent us from letting life get the best of us then and now. To some they are, will and always will be just words that are lackluster in the attempt to inspire, but to others those words are everything. Simple words can make all the difference; such as a smile, song, kiss or even a hello.
Therefore, today in true self-encouraging disposition, I scoured the internet to satisfy my quench for news, gossip and inspiration and I was drawn to the words of activist, Malcolm X. I quote: "If you are experiencing resistance, you must exert some persistence, in order to improve your existence." And there it was, the answer to all of my fears, doubts, questions and concerns - borrowed words that became the steering wheel of my perception of life today. Today I will take the bull by the horn.
Instead of submitting to my woes, I choose to take encouraging words of this historic figure and look at today as a good day.
And so I ask again, is it really that simple? Absolutely not, there is no real formula in being more optimistic. The secret to optimism is the adventure of finding a recipe that works for you. My formulaic answer to all that gets me down is to: Eat, Pray and Love. I feed my soul the necessary to keep me going and a daily Snickers bar seems to help too. I pray to have the strength to both begin and endure the day's journey. And I love, I mean really love all that matters to no end.
My outlook may seem like a bunch of self-help nonsense to others, but what is the alternative, cynisicism, I'll pass. As I sail through what I refer to as my "wonder years", the period in which I am purposefully navigating through life and all of its splendor, I remain upbeat. In turn, I dedicate today's blog to the most inspiring, thought-provoking cynic in my life: here's hoping.
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