"The Optimist Creed"

Thank you all for the success of the "12 Days of Optimism"!  The blog saw more views over those twelve days than it has since it started.  Here is the full Optimist Creed, written by Christian D. Larson in the early 1900s.  Even over 100 years ago the power of positive thinking was well known and relevant.  Read it, print it out, and live it in your daily life.

The Optimist 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 male all of 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 cheerful expressions 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.

- Christian D. Larson

12 Days of Optimism, Day 12: The Best ME

"I promise myself...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"

Today is the last day of the "12 Days of Optimism".  It is fitting that it ends with this affirmation.  You need to live with the belief that everything happens for a reason and life really is on your side.  Because you are the one that determines your life.  As long as you go around each day practicing the power of positive thinking, realizing your value, and being kind to others the world will reflect that back to you.  

No one is out to get you.  Things happen to you because you focus on them and let them happen.  React positively to every event in your life and find the reason and meaning in it.  You are the best "me" that you can be at all times, as long as you are aware of it.  Awareness of your own personal greatness will help you live a full and happy life. Proclaim to the world that "I am the best ME!"

12 Days of Optimism, Day 11: Good Deeds

 

"I promise myself...to think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds."

One of the greatest things you can do to make yourself feel happy and show the world how good you feel about yourself is to help others.  This can be as simple as holding the door open for someone, letting someone pass on the highway, or cleaning the kitchen up for your spouse after they are done cooking a meal for you both.  It can also mean going to volunteer at your favorite charity or local organization.  It is doing something that takes time to help the needs of another.

 

Doing great deeds shows those around you that you are a giving person who values the world we all live in and the happiness of others as much as your own.  I challenge you to find a local group or organization that you can volunteer to help with for as little as once a month.  Go donate stuff to the Goodwill which you no longer use.  Recycle, or start a recycling program in your apartment complex.  Help serve food at a soup kitchen.  Take tickets and admission at a local fair or event.  Help set up a community event.  The opportunities are endless.  But I can guarantee not only will you shine as someone who is happy with their life, you will make someone else happy which is one of the greatest rewards on earth, greater than any material thing.

 

"Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds." - Buddha

12 Days of Optimism, Day 10: To be too...

"I promise myself...to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble."

The point of today's affirmation is that you act in a way that is above the negative things around you.  Realize that you are better than things like worry, anger, and far.  Instead, radiate so much happiness and positive thinking that you have no time for the others.

Value yourself and how much you can actually do and control in your life.  Giving in to negative things will just take you one giant step back further from a happier life.  Hold yourself higher than the things that try to bring you down.

12 Days of Optimism, Day 9: Time

"I promise myself...to give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticize others."

Sadly many of us spend way too much time judging, criticizing, and comparing others to ourselves.  Doing that has two negative impacts on our daily life.  First of all by comparing yourself to someone else you are essentially telling yourself that you are not worthy or good enough because you need to find your value by judging someone else. Second, by nature judging and criticizing are negative thoughts about another person.  When you are constantly thinking negatively you are putting the vibrations of all your thoughts on a negative wavelength.  Therefore you are attracting more negative to your own life.  It will become a vicious cycle.

You cannot change the way someone acts, speaks, or thinks.  No matter how hard you try you simply cannot.  The only person you can work on changing is yourself.  So instead of wasting your time trying to improve someone else to what you think they should be, how about working on the most important thing in your life...YOU!

12 Days of Optimism, Day 8: Smile

"I promise myself...to wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet."

The message for today is simple...SMILE!  Walk around and smile at everyone you come in contact with.  Smiles are contagious and make you feel good.  They are such a simple thing yet help communicate to the world and yourself that you are happy!

You choose your life and  how you feel, so why not choose happiness?!

12 Days of Optimism, Day 7: Forget the Past

 

"I promise myself...to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future."

We are always taught to remember the past and learn from our mistakes.  While that is true to learn from past experiences and do better the next time, it is also causing people to focus too much on the past.  People live with worry, regret, and a desire to change what has been done.  The reality is that you cannot change what has happened.  Sometimes the past hurts, but it's done and gone now.  Working to try and change the path is a battle you will lose no matter how hard you try.  It will just cause you to live a life of sadness and anger.  

"Trying to change the past is a battle which only leads to more pain, despair and unhappiness.  It simply cannot be won and leads you away from true personal happiness." - RL 

In my past post about how you should Finish Your Day, I talk about the importance of accepting what has happened and looking at tomorrow as a new day full of adventure and life.  Living in the past causes you to miss out on what is happening to you now.  So end your day, forgive yourself and those who caused you pain, learn from the mistake, and accept it.  Then go on to tomorrow and live YOUR life!

12 Days of Optimism, Day 6: Ethusiasm

"I promise myself...to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own."

When you share in the success and celebratory moments of others it makes you feel just as happy.  Another one of my favorite episodes of Oprah's Lifeclass was "Joy Rising".  It was a weekly episode in which she showed moments of others receiving life changing gifts, reunions, and joyful moments.  The interesting reaction and point of it was to see how you reacted to seeing others happiness.  You could not sit there and not help but smile, cry, and just feel genuinely happy for the other person.  It is just as rewarding to see someone else happy and truly feel happy for them as it is to have something just as joyful happen to you.

Next time someone gets praise at work, an award, a gift, or just is having a great day you should celebrate it with them.  Like attracts like, happy attracts happy.  Life is worth celebrating it and we are all in this together so let's all feel joy together.

12 Days of Optimism, Day 5: To think, work, & expect

"I promise myself...to think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best."

The power of positive thinking will take you far in life.  That is what the meaning of this optimistic affirmation is.  If you go through your day thinking of positive things, working towards positive outcomes and expecting positive things then life has no choice but to bring those things to you.

When you wake up and say to yourself "this is going to be a great day and things are going to go my way", you are already putting your frequency on a positive wave.  By law of attraction more positive things will come to you because like attracts like. Why would you want to go around always expecting the worse and work towards mediocrity?  What benefit would that have in your life?  None!  Expect greatness because you are greatness manifested!

12 Days of Optimism, Day 4: The Sunny Side

"I promise myself...to look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true."

The whole point of optimism is to look at the glass half full, or look on the sunny side of things. That means going through each day finding and appreciating the good all around you. This means positive thinking, gratitude and joy is embedded in every word and action throughout your day.

So I challenge you to really become aware of what you are thinking and doing each day. Smile at each person you come in contact with. Compliment those around you. Pause and take a moment to look at all the beauty around you. Ask the universe for your day sunny side up!

12 Days of Optimism, Day 3: Friends

"I promise myself...to make all my friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them."

Friends are one of the greatest gifts we have.  They are the people we choose to surround ourselves with and who are there for us no matter what.  We also have many levels of friends. Some very close and some regular acquaintances.  Either way they are still people we value in our lives and who make us happy to be around them.

Humans have a natural need and desire to feel wanted.  We all want to feel that we matter and are important to someone else.  So when was the last time you told your friends or those you loved that you cared about them?  When did you really take a moment to let them know that you appreciate them and are thankful they are in your life?  Do your actions towards them represent how you feel about them?

One of my favorite episodes of Oprah's Lifeclass was called "Do your eyes light up?"  The basic premise of the episode was to make you think about how you react when your child, spouse, partner, friend, etc enter the room.  Do your eyes light up?  Do they know you are happy to see them?  Think about this the next time you see someone that you are grateful is a part of your life.  Make sure you show them in words and actions how much they mean to you.  Making someone else feel valued and loved brings the same feelings back to you.  That's what friends are for! 

12 Days of Optimism, Day 2: To Talk

"I promise myself...to talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet."

I have talked a lot about positive thinking and mindset throughout this blog.  Speaking positively is just as important.  No matter who you come into contact with in your daily life you should be able to speak to them in a kind and and positive manner.

You can look at this as karma.  If you wish health, happiness, and wealth to someone then it will come around back to you.  This is basically the law of attraction again.   What you speak about you bring about.  If you go through your day finding the good in each person, complimenting others, wishing them a good day, celebrating their wins, etc then I can promise you that you will feel great!  It feels good to help and raise others up.  Think of how great you feel when someone says hello and wishes you a good morning, when someone compliments your outfit or when someone gives you recognition for something you have done.  It feels so great to be spoken to positively so why not give that same great feeling to others?

Think, Speak, and Act positively and you will receive it back tenfold.

"12 Days of Optimism" Introduction and Day 1: Peace of Mind

Welcome to "12 Days of Optimism"!  I will be posting 12 short daily lessons to help put you in a more optimistic attitude in your life.  This is based off the "Optimist's Creed" by Christian D. Larson.  I became aware of this through the website for "The Secret".  You can locate a printable version of the whole creed on their website.  Christian D. Larson was one of the most prominent new thought authors of the early 1900s.  He was very big into promoting the power of the mind and how in control of our thoughts we were.  This creed was part of his work "Your Forces and How To Use Them" in 1912. 

So please enjoy these 12 lessons and really try to apply them to your daily life.  I would be grateful as well if you would share the links and messages around your Facebook and other social media sites.  I just ask you please credit them to this blog.  Thank you and enjoy!

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"I promise myself...to be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind."

As we have talked about many times on this blog, we are in control of what we think and how we react to the situations around us.  This first part of the creed refers to being so mentally strong and at peace with who you are as a person that you don't need the judgment or outside situation to prove who you are.  Understand the true value that you are to yourself and the world around you.  Know that you are worth it and by feeling that way that you will attract good situations and people into your life.

Peace of mind is not always easy to achieve when it seems the world is coming down around you.  But you need to remember that you are the one that reacts to things and causes them to be a negative or positive impact on you.  If you go into a situation with the confidence that you can handle it, it won't get the best of you and you will remain strong.

The Mayo Jar and Two Beers.

This has been going around the internet lately.  It was posted on Facebook by CHJ Financial.  It is a great way to look at life and what is important in it.  So here I give you the lesson of the mayonaise jar and two beers:

"When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.

The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was
Full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full..

The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed..

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car..

The sand is everything else---the small stuff.

'If you put
The sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your children.

Spend time with your parents.

Visit with grandparents.

Take your spouse out to dinner.

Play another 18.

There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.

Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter.

Set your priorities.

The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented.

The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'

The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend."

Fear...

Fear is something we all have felt and dealt with in our lives.  It is something that can bring about a wide range of emotions.  The fear I want to talk about in this entry is that in which stopping you from doing something that you want to or should do.  When that situation arises the voice in your head gives you a million reasons why you should not go ahead and do it.  The problem is that we listen to that voice too much and in many cases the reasons are completely illogical.

Think about a time when you were afraid to talk to someone, ask someone out, or confront someone.  That voice starts firing off the "What if..." statements.  "What if they don't like what I have to say?" "What if I mess up what I'm trying to say?" "What if what I have to say makes this person upset?" "What if they say 'no'?"  And the list goes on.  We all know that voice and know it fires off at a rapid pace all the crazy possibilities.  However, the funny thing is that you really have no way to know how the situation will go nor do you have any control on how the other person will react, because that is their choice how they react to the situation.  It has been talked about many times on this blog that you control the way you react to a situation in your life.  So it still applies here.

Another ironic thing with fear is that the people who sit around and worry about all the negative things that can happen are actually harming themselves more than the thing they are so afraid of.  Worrying is a negative emotion that, per the law of attraction, can only bring more worry and negativity into your life.  It is actually better to believe that you are strong enough to deal with what comes to you and just face your fear.  That way you know the result and are in more control of your reaction to it then sitting around wondering. 

Facing your fear can actually be one of the most empowering things in life.  Just think about a time you accomplished something you were afraid or nervous of.   Wasn't it such a great and satisfying feeling when you did?  Didn't you feel so good about yourself and what you can achieve?  So why not choose to feel this feeling over worry and anxiety?  Look at the quote above again.   Yes you can be safe sitting back and not doing anything that takes risks or guts.  But you were also not put on this earth to not sail the seas of life and explore and use yourself for your full potential.

"Don't sit around saying 'I should have done that'...just do it!  You can always look back and say, 'I shouldn't have done that." - Cher

We have all heard the 'live as if you were dying' quotes and speeches.  That is the attitude you have to have.  Live each day as if it is your last.  Dance like a fool.  Dream like a child.  Love with all of your being.  Take chances and be adventurous.  Live YOUR Life!