The Optimists' Creed

I promise myself...
To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person I meet.
To make all my friends feel that there is
something worthwhile in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make my optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as I am about my own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on
to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful expression at all times
and give a smile to every living creature I meet.
To give so much time to improving myself
that I have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words, but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side,
so long as I am true to the best that is in me.
By Christian D. Larson
Your Forces and How to Use Them (1921)

Now I just need to memorize this so that I can mutter it under my breath when things aren't going as well as I might like. It's far too long to have tattooed on my hand as a "cheat sheet".

Lately I haven't been doing as good a job as I might like to not let things bother me. Perhaps tomorrow will be better. It's too bad that more people on this planet don't realize that the success of someone doesn't mean that they can't succeed themselves. Being successful is not a zero sum game. Everybody on this planet could be successful. Then again, I believe that the only person I have to be better than is the person I was yesterday and that being better than I was yesterday does not involve tearing yesterday's self down to make it lower/lesser than today's self. This appears to very much be an unusual, rare viewpoint. I think that's sad. What makes it even sadder is that the people who are truly successful cannot be torn down. The attempts just make the "tearers" weaker and more bitter/angry.

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