Hope

I have been giving a lot of thought to the concept of optimism recently. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary “optimism” is defined as: --- 1 : a doctrine that this world is the best possible world ---- 2 : an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome

They say that the word “optimism” comes from the Latin akin to ops power, as in opulent.

I’ve spent a big part of my life trying to shield myself from “negative energy” and also to rid my life of those people who are constantly pessimistic and negative.

I had a friend in Holland named Nancy Jurgen. In her view of life the biggest compliment she could give about someone was that they were always enthusiastic. The concepts of optimism and enthusiasm are closely linked.

A few years ago I went through some difficult times: My young, beautiful wife left me for another man, the company I was General Manager of for 15 years sold and I was made redundant, and I was diagnosed with an incurable form of leukemia. During the same period I also quit smoking (2-3 packs/day) and completely quit all consumption of alcohol. The combination of these events caused me to at times get rather negative. Well, lets be honest about it, suicidal is more like it.

A friend of mine in the leukemia support group I was in at the time recommended the book, “You can’t afford the luxury of a negative thought”. On the back cover of the book it says, "Why do some people always seem so happy with their lives - and others so down even when they seem to have it all? The difference is the strength that comes from thinking positively. Negative thinking wears us down, leaving us feeling powerless, as though happiness and success are only for other people." This is really a good book.

People who are optimistic lead more successful lives. Not necessarily financially, although it certainly helps there too. Successful in terms of achieving one’s goals, personal happiness, satisfaction, and emotional equilibrium. Grace, happiness.

We’ve all known people like that. That could describe my brother-in-law Michael Cannon. Ted Turner seems to be one of those people. So does Barack Obama.

I read a good newspaper article today. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1128/p04s02-woeu.html

In the article Barack Obama’s old Pastor was quoted as describing a painting by the Victorian painter George Frederic Watts which is now in the Guildhall Art Gallery in London. The Guildhall is sort of between St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Museum of London. I have been to both, but never to the Guildhall.

The painting is called Hope. Jeremiah Wright described the painting as follows. The harpist, he preached, "is sitting there in rags ... her clothes are tattered as though she had been a victim of Hiroshima… [yet] the woman had the audacity to hope."

The concept of “hope” is another one that is closely related to optimism and enthusiasm.
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