Three Easy Steps to Becoming An Optimist

You’re convinced, being an optimist is the way to go. But beyond the old adage “See the glass half full” how do you do it?

Here are three quick, easy steps to becoming an optimist.

1. Play the “What If” Game Positively

We all play the “what if” game, but for the most part, we play it negatively. For example, you haven’t been feeling at all well lately. It’s not a cold, not indigestion, nothing you can put your finger on. Your mind starts spinning: “What if it’s cancer? I’m getting older, maybe it’s diabetes? Or something leading to a stroke? Heart attack?!” which leads to “What if it’s already too late? What if I’ve got something terminal? What if they can’t figure out what it is? What if I don’t have enough insurance?”

Panic sets in, and with that your stress increases as your ability to think clearly and make good decisions goes directly downhill.

Instead, play the “what if” game in a hopeful, positive, appreciative direction: “I’ve been in pretty good health all my life. It’s not like I’m in pain even, I just don’t feel as well as I’m used to. I’ve always bounced back from things, I’ve got good stamina. This is probably a vitamin deficiency, like vitamin D or something like that.”

2. Appreciate What Is

Appreciate what is. You have good access to doctors and other healthcare providers. You have endless access to web research. You can remind yourself that our 21^st century ability to treat most ailments is sensational, that all sorts of diagnostic tools and techniques exist to ferret out what’s going on with our bodies. At least you have insurance! And you have friends and family who could help out if the need arose.

All this reassures you that the sky isn’t falling right this second, which helps you relax, again assuring that you are functioning at your least-stressed best. You can now be proactive and approach your health concerns in a more rational, logical way.

3. Reminisce Constructively

Most of us, when faced with a situation we don’t like, reminisce destructively. We think of all the bad things that have happened to us, and how awful it felt, and how hard it was to get back on track.

Instead, reminisce constructively. Deliberately think about how easily you healed from that broken leg you got falling out of your treehouse at age 12. How whenever you get a cold or the flu, it never lasts more than a week. How you can’t even remember when you last had a headache. How good you feel most of the time.

Think of all the good health advice friends, doctors and untold others through blogs and webcasts have given you along the way; how you’ve always seem to have been shown the way to a happy, healthy well-being throughout your life.

Now, if in addition to these three steps, you should feel the urge to not just become, but to flourish as an optimist, to embrace optimism mind, body, heart and soul, then do your best to live the Optimist Creed (http://www.optimist.org/e/creed.cfm). It is a powerful appreciation practice that can literally transform you, inside and out, making your happy, healthy longevity practically inevitable.

The Optimist Creed

Promise yourself:

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your 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 you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you 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.

Here’s a Switch: Cops Seek Out Good Guys, Not Just Bad Guys

Members of the Denver Police Department are interacting with their community much more these days, but they are not piling up arrests or writing more citations. Instead, they are rewarding people being "caught doing something right" by passing out $10-off pizza coupons.

            “Recognizing people for doing the right thing is a sure fire way to gain loyalty, respect and to motivate people to continue their positive behavior. This is true in any number of situations including a boss signaling out a worker who has gone the extra mile or, in this case, a community member who has obeyed the law.

            The Denver Police will hand out 500 pizza discounts courtesy of Alpine Bank and Papa John's Pizza. Individuals will receive the discount card when a police officer observes them doing such things as using a crosswalk properly and helping others.

            All of us respond in a positive manner when we are on the receiving end of appreciation. It’s human nature. The Denver Police is using this truism for community outreach, but employers can use it in the workplace and see the same kind of results.”

            The show of appreciation doesn’t have to be in the form of a monetary reward. Sometimes, just a "thank you for doing a great job on that proposal" or "I appreciate you staying late so we could meet our delivery deadline" is all it takes. Be sure to be specific about your appreciation. It makes it much more meaningful.

            For more practical workplace tips, go to http://www.noellenelson.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/HappyEmployeesEqualProfits or at Twitter.com/HappyProfits.

“The Lion King” and “Aladdin” Get the Best of a LaGuardia Situation

Travel delays are never fun, but from time to time they are bound to happen. You can’t expect the weather to cooperate every time you fly, and better they should repair those mechanical issues before you fasten your seat belt.

I’ve learned to take a deep breath, chill, remind myself it’s not the end of the world, and then look for a way to appreciate whatever extra time I’m now spending in the airport. Reading always works for me, so does getting in some phone-chat time with girlfriends, or cleaning out my inbox if all else fails.

But recently, the Broadway cast members of “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” took appreciating your unanticipated down-time in an airport to a whole new level. During their six-hour weather delay in New York’s LaGuardia Airport, they had a sing-off! It was truly an extraordinary event, captured on someone’s phone, and uploaded to YouTube [https://youtu.be/6ajHZWDP_Vk].

What a choice these cast members made! Rather than bemoan the hot, crowded conditions of the airport, rather than complain endlessly about what the delay meant to their plans, or how bored they were, or anything else, they turned to what they could value in that moment, they started singing. First one, then another, then the whole cast of “The Lion King” joined in to sing songs from their award-winning show. Whereupon the “Aladdin” cast responded with their songs--including an amazing free-style rap by James Inglehart, who plays the Genie in the show.

Not only did the cast members of these shows counter the potentially adverse effects of negativity on their well-being, they uplifted everyone within earshot in that airport! You can see the smiles on other passengers’ faces as their mood changed from “Oy ve” to “Hurrah”! Because everyone was in the same weather-delay boat; it took deliberate, conscious focus to switch from ain’t-it-awful to better thoughts and feelings. Something the cast members accomplished with ease.

Contrast this with the behavior I witnessed a few weeks prior at another airport. My flight was mechanical-issue delayed for three hours, then canceled entirely. We were transferred to a different flight, which meant another delay of about two hours. OK, such is life. Finally, we were in line to board our designated aircraft, just waiting for the previous passengers to get off the plane, and the few minutes required for the cleaning crew to do their thing.

A man standing at the head of our line was vigorously complaining to the ground attendant in charge of taking our boarding passes about how long it was taking the previous passengers to deplane. How he’d had it with all this waiting, and what a horrible airline this was, and what horrible service. There was more of course. I stood there, with my jaw dropped. Here the airline had kept us safe (off a plane not fit to fly), found us seats on another flight, we were about to board, and the man was first in line. It was probably one of the finest examples of complete lack of appreciation I have ever seen. At the very least, the man could have valued his position at the front of the line, and appreciated the fact that he only had another ten minutes, tops, to wait before getting to his seat.

I don’t even want to know what that man’s heart condition is like. What I do know, is that those Broadway cast members, with their ability to switch their focus to what they could appreciate, what they could do--sing!--as opposed to what they couldn’t do (get on a plane right then) had their hearts not only in the right place for the joy they brought themselves and everyone else in that airport, but also in the very best place for their long-term health and vitality.

    Now don’t you wish you’d had that travel delay?!