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Today's
Meditation:
While I was growing up, I often heard people who saw
things like this referred to in negative ways, as if their
positive view of the world was something wrong, as if they
were so naive that they just didn't get how awful the
world is and how difficult life can be. As I've
grown, though, I've learned that for these people, life
isn't at all difficult-- yes, it's full of challenges and
pitfalls and obstacles, but those are simply things to be
overcome, not things that should beat us down into
submission or depression. And I've also come to
realize just how wrong the people were who criticized
them, and just how miserable they were making their own
lives by focusing on the failure and the shadows and
storms.
I want to be a hopeful person. At times, I start to
feel that it's hopeless to want this, but I keep pushing
it, and I find that it gets easier and easier with each
year that goes by. I'm able to see the world in
positive ways even when things seem to be going
"wrong," and I feel much happier and more
fulfilled when I am able to see the world this way.
Orison isn't talking about the constantly-perky person who
always wears a smile no matter what and who can really get
on our nerves. I've read books and articles by
people who actually used to be like that, and while they
were smiling and happy on the outside, they were simmering
cauldrons of frustration and confusion on the
inside. Their "optimism" was a mask that
they wore so that people couldn't see the anguish inside
of them.
But I do want to see the sunshine and success in
life. When problems arise, I always ask myself as
soon as I can, "just what's the silver lining
here?" And almost always, I can see something
positive in the worst negative very quickly, and as time goes
on I can see much, much more positive. And I've seen
enough sunshine after storms to know that no storm lasts
forever, and that optimism for better days ahead is always
justified; in fact, feeling the optimism tends to bring
the brighter days all that much more quickly.
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Questions to
consider:
Were you brought up to see the sunshine, or the
shadows? Who were your teachers? Were they
happy, fulfilled people?
How might we learn to look for the brightness when it
seems that there is none to be seen?
Why do so many people make fun of optimists and speak
negatively about them?
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