What is it that makes some people so sure of themselves that nothing, NOTHING, seems to ever get them down, and some people (most actually) are so easily distracted by the things that COULD get them down that they lose all but a fraction of the hope they had once upon a time? This is the biggest puzzle to me, and though I really shouldn't be so affected by it I think of it almost continously. I'm sad about what people give in to, especially if I know and love and care for them. So what is it?
It's not circumstance, though everyone is quick to blame circumstances. That's a poor excuse because everyone's life is balanced with ups and downs, and everyone is affected by that bumpy rollercoaster equally. (Different trial, perhaps, but we are all given enough blessings to out-way those trials whether we choose to acknoledge them or not.) It can't be wealth either, because - as powerful of a tool as it can be - happiness is a choice, and comes without a price. So what is it?
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Perspective.
ReplyDelete"Woe is me" vs. "Can I help you with that?"
"I've failed again" vs. "Well, that won't work..."
"What magnificent challenges!" vs. "What magnificent rewards!"
My answer is faith and hope, which are not always things people have in abundance.
ReplyDeleteIt requires faith and hope to be optimistic. And we must cultivate faith our life. Some were born with more of it, some have developed a great amount of it, and some lose it.
Why would someone lose faith or maybe not have it yet?
Imagine you were born into poor circumstances (yes, circumstances) and you grew up with parents who didn't care that much and people who used you. You begin to fear that everyone is the same way. It takes time to learn that things won't always be that way, especially when you've lived with it for 15 or 20 years.
I have met such people. Also, similar to Pavlov's salivating dog, someone can be conditioned to give a certain response, which may be opposite of faith. It's a little bit different then hearing a bell. Say you tried something and you failed. Say you try it again and you fail. Now, say that you try it again another hundred times and you fail. You might begin to think that it won't happen. You be sick or even afraid of trying. You lose faith that it may happen.
People can be conditioned to give the opposite response too. Now, when I say condition...I mean that people really choose the patterns they are making for themselves. People can choose to still apply faith and believe that one time the outcome will be different. Then it is different, unless it is faith in something that isn't true. Bach's gremlin will never really be a sports car. Just won't happen no matter how much he believes it. And as we apply faith more, more things happen. We begin to build confidence, optimism, etc. because we really realize that all will be well. Some people don't have that faith yet and they just don't know that all will be well.
Sorry, it's a novel.
Maybe if the Gremlin were resurrected it could become a sports car.
ReplyDelete(holding out for you bach)
Hey! I...
ReplyDeleteOK, you're probably right.