‘The Prospect of Good’

This post was written by Gregg Hake a few weeks ago and its one that makes you really think so I wanted to share.

“I have a new philosophy. I’m only going to dread one day at a time.” ~ Charles M. Schulz

Illness has a way of narrowing down your scope of concern. The more severe it is, the more it seems you must withdraw into your heart and mind to deal with it. Long-term fears and dreads tend to fade from consciousness or are perhaps crowded out by more pressing immediate concerns and if you’re lucky, the process can actually put life back into perspective.

Charles Schulz’ “new philosophy” is funny in a painful kind of way, but life is generally a thorough mixture of matters pleasant and disagreeable. You may have come to realize that the mixture is a given and largely beyond your control, but how you face the mixture is completely up to you. Further, you might have noticed that you really do have an option when it comes to the way you think about the future.

Think about it this way: you can give the prospect of good more weight in your heart than you do the dread of evil. The moment you do, the tide of your life will begin to turn. You cannot exert a radiance influence on the world around you when you are paralyzed with dread, but you can have a tremendous impact when you are buoyed by the prospect of good.

You needn’t contract a terrible illness to come to terms with these realizations. You needn’t wait for a life-changing moment to change your life. You can be a force of change in your world, an agent of creative change, by simply allowing for a change in emphasis. Give weight to the prospect of good. Stop wasting time and energy dreading ill things.

The circumstances you face will be what they are, but you can be who you determine to be when you open the door to greet them.

Attitude Impact

The first habit in Steven Covey’s book; The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is “Be Proactive”.  In his book Mr. Covey says that being proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. He writes that our life doesn’t just “happen;” that whether we know it or not, our lives are designed by none other than ourselves.  He goes on to say that we make our own choices.  We choose happiness. We choose sadness. We choose decisiveness. We choose ambivalence, courage, fear and numerous other things.  He tells us that we make new choices in every moment and every situation, and in doing so, we have an opportunity to do things differently to produce more positive results. 

I am reminded this week how this first habit can impact your life.  In seemingly the same situation those who made a conscious decision  to be happy and not feel angry or hurt any longer, seem to weather the storms in their lives so much better. 

For me it really comes to light when you interact with someone everyday and sometimes secretly wish you had their life, mostly because they are so happy and have no problem or a care in the world.  Life for them seems like a fairytale.  Come on admit it, you have dealt with this feeling at some point in your life.  More amazing is when you somehow learn this individual has had not one or two but several catastrophic events in their life, and some they are still dealing with.  Yet they never once gave you or anyone else around them an indication that they were upset or life wasn’t fair, etc.

We’ve all been there, a situation we didn’t expect that turns our world upside down.  And I for one wish I always reacted positively and constructively, afraid not, but trying. Yet when I witness individuals like this, I am inspired and I commend them for their sense of humility and courage, as well as their desire to be the creative force of their life rather than being the victim to current circumstances.    When we experience painful situations it’s hard to gain the self-awareness to choose to be positive.  But I will say it does give you a sense of freedom, rather than surrender.