Learn To Be Hopeful in These Challenging Times
You Must Do the Thing You Think You Cannot Do
Years ago, I came across an uplifting book when I needed cheer.
The blurb on the cover stated, “A book for people with any life-threatening illness-including life.” I like that “including life” part; it is a message made for today.
In the mid-1990s, I took Peter McWilliams’ advice to heart: “You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought”, which I found very helpful. My years of practicing his advice serve me well today.
Sadly, the book is out of print today, and I cannot recommend the newly released Kindle version because it contains many typos. A few used copies are still available if you want one.
I liked the book because McWilliams and his coauthor filled it with a rich variety of suggestions to help the reader learn to be optimistic. My copy is well dog-eared.
Teach Yourself to be Hopeful: Follow this simple process
Recognizing that negative thoughts harm our bodies and our spirits, we can determine to follow McWilliams’ cure:
Spend more time focusing on the positive things in our life (Accentuate the Positive);
Spend less time thinking negatively (Eliminate the Negative); and
Enjoy each moment (Latch on to the Affirmative).
That’s it. Simple. But far from easy.
It takes practice, but it is doable. We are free to follow this advice in our own ways, and we will slip up occasionally, but we must persist. To do otherwise puts us on a downward spiral to misery.
When forces of darkness try to take over our lives, we must bat them away using whatever means works for us because the alternative is unacceptable.
The more varied ways we use to follow this advice, the better. And if nothing works, we need to seek professional counseling.
I prefer to honor my core wisdom and be cautious of slick promises. Valuable suggestions are available from many sources, but we need to be on the lookout for snake oil salespeople whose methods may harm us.
Our neighborhood has gazanias growing freely in most yards. Most of these plants started from seeds dropped by birds. The seeds sprout into attractive plants that soon produce bunches of sunny yellow blossoms. They are constant reminders to be hopeful.
I am a fan of Eleanor Roosevelt, and I recommend following her famous advice, “You Must Do the Thing You Think You Cannot Do.”
Trust yourself; you can do this.
