Optimistic Views On Life

[erikbennettftw 0]

Stop pretending you've got the world all figured out. Sometimes bad experiences lead to good experiences, and you can't predict the future, so you can't assume it'll always be bad. Let go of past mistakes. If all you saw growing up were disappointments, betrayals and failure, it's no surprise that now it's what you expect from the world. Just because you've experienced pain or disappointment in the past does not mean that it's all you'll experience in the future. There were many things in your past that you couldn't control. But there are also many things in life we can control to one degree or another, which means there's a possibility of change. A day or week that starts badly will not necessarily end badly. Life involves taking many risks every day, and not all of them will end positively. That's what defines risk. But the flip side is that some actions will lead to good results, and it's generally better to have a mixed bag than to have nothing at all. The good stuff will outweigh the bad, but you'll never reach that point unless you put yourself out there and hope for the best. Agree?

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[networker 0]

That's true.As the expression goes there's a silver liningin every cloud. Sometimes though the silver lining is a littlebit hard to see and a little bit hard to get to. I guess itdepends on seeing the glass as being either half full or half empty.Another cliche, but still true.

[seanbig 0]

i will copy and paste one of a few little pieces i had written in an old journal that reflect the underlying purpose of this topic..."I suppose I should preface this entry by saying that I have no idea where I'm going with this. I simply felt the need to write, to express, to weave some sort of thought provoking tapestry. Time has a tendency to bring about change, I'm sure we all know this... but today I'm interested in the subtlety of it all. Those days in which we wake up knowing that today is drastically different than yesterday but in truth, we have no idea how, when, or why it came to be that way. Somewhere along the line we lost the focus that we all fight so hard to hang onto. We spend each day in a constant struggle, attempting portray to others (and ourselves) that we truly know what we're doing or where we're going. The fact is, every day that passes only proves to show just how futile such attempts are.Could it be misplaced faith?Could it be that our attempts to lock down all that lies ahead and even that which surrounds us right this very moment, has left us devoid of this world's most precious gift... the spontaneity of life. Desperation has been left in such a negative light but by nature, it is that very desperation that has brought about any great change in this world. How could it be that such a "negative" sentiment can be of such worth? I suppose it's all a matter of perspective. William S. Burroughs said it best when he said, "Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape." When it all comes crashing down... we learn to rebuild, we learn to live. What's funny is that we spend our entire lives waiting for great events to create change, and yet we are all missing the point. Great events occur every day, slowly, consistently. It is that very concept that leaves us in silence, wondering how the hell we got to where we are today. While waiting for something life changing, life never stopped changing. She's a sneaky mistress but a dependable one.Rest assured that tomorrow you will be different than you are today and each day beyond that... the possibilities are endless. Never doubt the urgency of life, but please don't forget that as the years wear on there is infinite promise. Find worth within those times that you're at your worst. Take them as a gift, a starting point. It is the one time in your life when you can honestly smile knowing that things couldn't possibly get any worse. Again, keep it in perspective. Keep your eyes not on what you've lost, but on the vast world of possibilities that can be seen from that very moment. It's a big world out there, and this is only the beginning."

[HDuffRules 0]

Life philosophies are generally a very tricky thing because people tend to have their own, based on their own experiences and personalities. It is also maddeningly difficult to convert other people to a certain life philosophy because there is no simple method to make other people see things your way. With that said, optimism is a fairly widespread belief that factors into a lot of peoples' life philosophies, simply because (and this is speculation) it is a lot more fun to think about good things than it is to think about bad things. Whether or not this will manifest itself in good things actually happening is up for debate. It could be argued that being happy (or pretending to be happy) will cause people around you to be more happy, and when people are happy, good things tend to happen more. Unfortunately, there are a few links in that train of thought that may be confused cause-effect correlations and it may not work at all (For instance, the when people are happy => good things happen transition may be an artifact of associating bad things with unhappy people, because our general experience has been that bad things => unhappy. However, this does not necessarily mean that good things => happy and even less that happy => good things.) My own personal philosophy is to not worry about any of this stuff, which as a whole ends up saving me a lot of stress and drama. I've been told by other people with brighter dispositions that i'm cynical and a pessimist simply because I don't see each new day as a possibility. I just see it as a new day. And when it comes down to it, is that really all that bad?