Bringing Balance to Life: The Power of Optimism

A fishing guide once said that catching a trout depends more on who's holding the pole than the bait that's on the hook. "Optimists catch more fish," he said. "They believe they're going to catch 'em and they catch 'em."

Optimism helps athletes. Swimmers were given a psychological test that measured attitude. Those who scored high on optimism performed better after a defeat. Swimmers who scored low on optimism performed worse after a defeat.

Optimism helps students. Psychologists gave col­lege freshmen tests to measure optimism. Four years later, the psychologists found that optimism predicted college grades better than SAT scores or high-school grades.

Optimism helps sales people. Optimistic sales people sell almost forty per­cent more product than pessimists sell. Three quarters of insurance salesmen quit in their first three years. Guess what? Pessimists quit twice as often as optimists. MetLife Insurance executives hired a special group of applicants who failed the normal screening tests, but scored high on optimism. The first year on the job the "dumb" optimists sold 21% more insurance than 'the "smart" pessimists. The second year, the optimists sold 57% more insurance than the pessimists. "Dumb" opti­mists sell more insurance than "smart" pessimists.

Optimism can be learned! Increase your belief in several areas of your life:

• Believe in a God who gives strength for the task ahead: Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. 
• Believe in a country that gives you the freedom to develop your talents.
• Believe in a free-enterprise system that provides you a method to succeed.
• Visualize success. In your mind's eye paint a vivid picture of yourself succeeding.
• Feel in advance what it would feel like when you succeed.
• Assume a confident posture: Stand tall, head erect, eager gaze. 
• Believe in positive action.
• Nothing builds optimism more than action. 
• Act and learn from your actions.
• Succeed by taking little baby steps toward success. 
• Each successful attempt teaches you how to improve. 
• Your optimism soars every time you improve on what you learn.

Bringing Balance to Life: Word Programming

The mind is like a computer: Our lips are the keyboard; our cerebral cortex is the storage disk. Negative talk programs our storage disk (the subcon­scious mind) for poor outcomes; positive talk programs our mind for positive results.

If I listen carefully to everything I say about myself, I’m surprised to discover that I sometimes program my mind for negative feelings: I wish I had done this. I should have done that. I’ll never learn. I’m dumpy. Doddering. Dumb. Done for. 

I’ve decided to rid myself of negative talk by:

• Speaking hopeful words
• Never missing an opportu­nity to genuinely compliment others
• Finding and saying something good about others
• Speaking thankfully
• Showing appreciation at every opportunity
• Encouraging the timid
• Praising good behavior, ignoring bad behavior
• Expecting and speaking positive outcomes
• Eliminating shoulds, oughts, and musts from my vocabulary
• Refusing to beat myself with negative words
• Speaking (to myself) what I want to be
• Telling myself in a soft whisper: God is with me wherever I go; the Holy Spirit will guide me; Jesus forgives me

Bringing Balance to Life: Life's Clock

During our visit to Lyon, France we toured Cathedrale Saint-Jean Baptiste. Begun in the twelfth century and completed in 1497, the cathedral has an astronomical clock from the 14th century.

"What's an astronomical clock?" I asked myself. When I got home I looked it up: The astronomical clock reveals the position of the moon, sun, and planets as well as giving the time of day....But after reading, researching, and reading some more, I can't tell you how it works.

But I do know this:

• Spend time following your own dreams; don't waste time living a life planned by others.
• If you don't protect your allotment of time, no one else will.
• Once you've wasted your time, you'll never get it back.
• Instead of counting every hour in the day, make every hour of the day count.
• Taking time for rest, relaxation, fun, and friendship keeps your clock ticking.
• Love is spelled T-I-M-E.

Bringing Balance to Life: Choose the Beautiful

Poor emotional health robs us of valuable time and prevents us from enjoying a balanced life. The good news: Our emotional health depends on our attitude. The proper attitude creates a life worth living and makes time worthwhile. We can choose: 

• To accept or refuse love
• Grow from or surrender to challenges 
• Enjoy or complain about our work 
• Modify our habits or let our harmful habits control us
• Cultivate tranquility or be overwhelmed by stress
• Seize opportunities or cower in a corner 
• Enjoy being alive or dread waking up. 

Our response to life's difficulties determines our happiness and health. Within us resides the gift to accept responsibility for our own happiness. We can shape adversity into an advantage. We can turn tragedy into hope. We can live the life we choose. The power to change gives us the opportunity for a blessed and balanced life.

The blind poet, Milton, wrote, The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. 

Thoughts of two famous people underscore Milton's point:

• Napoleon who had power, riches, and glory said, I have never known six happy days in my life. 
• Helen Keller, rendered blind and deaf from childhood meningitis, declared, I have found life so beautiful. 

Events and acquisitions fail to give us lasting happiness. Our thoughts can. Mind-body research (psychoneuroimmunology) proves that negative thoughts produce stress hormones. Optimistic thoughts cause the release of endorphins and other beneficial brain chemicals causing good feelings. What we think determines how we feel.

Let's choose the beautiful.

Bringing Balance to Life: A Time for Healing

A cheerful heart does good like medicine, but a crushed spirit dries the bones.

                                                                                                                         Proverbs 17:22

Research involving the mind-body connection (called psychoneuroimmunology) can be summarized in one sentence: The cerebral cortex (the thinking part of the brain) is connected to the limbic area (the feeling part of the brain) that is linked to the hypothalamus (the hormone control button of the brain) that, in turn, influences the rest of the body through a series of extremely complex microbiological connections.

When we have a thought or a feeling, our brains make chemicals known as neuropeptides. These protein­like molecules attach to the receptor sites of blood cells allowing brain and body cells to talk to each other chemically. Immune cells that repair tissue, heal wounds, ingest bacteria, and protect us from cancer have receptors for these chemical messengers.

Messages flowing between the brain and the immune cells are transported instantaneously. When we experience joy, the white blood cells receive that mes­sage immediately. Conversely, when we are unhappy, a negative message is transmitted directly to the white blood cells. Thus, our emotional reaction influences physical health. Positive message, good health. Negative message, poor health.

What's more intriguing, scientists have discovered certain cells in the body can make the same chemicals that the brain makes when it thinks. Our body cells make harmful or beneficial chemicals depending on our mood. A cheerful heart does good like medicine, but a crushed spirit dries the bones...is more than an aphorism. Likewise, there may be biological truth in the statements, He's a pain in the neck, or She makes me sick.