Throughout your life you may have received an unusual amount of criticism because of your – optimism!
You may even have been criticized simply for the happy look on your face! Yes, it seems that being optimistic doesn’t set well with some people, even if you don’t open your mouth. A friend once made the observation that optimism isn’t a feeling – it’s an attitude – a choice we make. When we are in adverse situations we have a choice – we can be sad and despairing, and fall into negativity, or we can recognize that lessons, even the hard ones, can work for good in our lives.
Growing garlic is a great example! Think about the garlic clove for a moment. The clove gets buried in the cold ground in the Fall and then sits there in the dark. I don’t know if it knows that it’s going to grow in the Spring, but there it sits, alone in the cold and dark all Winter. For months! Then, at just the right time, it pushes its way up through that cold, dark earth and grows into the light and warmth of Spring.
The symbolism is obvious. Because we are beings with the capacity for choice, we can remember that cold and dark are not forever, and that no matter how we feel at any given moment, no matter how glum the news on TV, no matter the wars, disease and suffering around the world, we can choose to be strong and powerful, and grow into the light.
We can choose to see the glass as being half full instead of seeing it as half empty! And, if we think about it, whether the glass is half full or half empty, we will still be able to have a drink. How much we enjoy that drink, however, may depend on how we choose to see it. We have the ability to activate that choice.
No matter how dark it may be, no matter the illness or loss, no matter the job market or the terrible sermon at church, no matter the grade in a particular subject, we always have the option to choose our attitude to it. Responding in a positive way in the middle of adversity is optimism – we choose to remember that there are still good things happening, we choose to know we are part of that greater good and that we are still growing into the light!
