BE AN OPTIMIST

Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society.  The optimist invents the airplane, the pessimist invents the parachute. …George Bernard Shaw

There is always a bright side, just as there is on the moon.  The key to a happy life is that you must find a way to survive until you get to the bright side.  That is a real challenge because the bright side of life is not as time-predictable as the phases of the moon.  There is an art to being able to see brightness when your world is dark.  A wonderful psychiatrist with whom I had done a rather difficult family interview said, as we were leaving the hospital together, "You could find a diamond in a pile of manure,"  The analogy was gratifying because I felt that was what my life had been like...looking for that diamond when all I was seeing were the cow pies of life.

Some of us must be programmed as survivors; I guess I was one of them.  It was a slow evolution to this point where I have learned not to worry about things over which I have no control; to have faith that things will work out, even if they are not as I had planned or wished; that the chances of being hurt are there but the odds may be in my favor....or, if they aren't, there is nothing I can do to change them but just pick up the pieces and charge on.

There is no Wizard behind the curtain.  No one has all the right answers.  Most people, however, who do have the answers are willing to share them.  It is up to you to decide which ones work for you.  We must all be like Diogenes and look for an honest man.  Save yourself time and don't look for one among the politicians.  There may be a few there but they are harder to find than elsewhere in life.  Remember, there is no one size fits all, regardless of the people who believe there is. Life is not any more 'fair and balanced' than Fox Media.  Life is as full of random evil as it is of opportunity.

An apple a day may keep the doctor away but kicking in your endorphins with belly laughs as often as you can is way more pleasing and fun.