Founder and President
of The Etiquette Factory,
a unique 3-phase etiquette learning system designed to change the world, one child at a time.
You probably know whether or not you are an optimist. I am absolutely positive that everyone around you knows whether you are or not. This is one of those skills that we just can’t really hide.
I hope you are an optimist because of all the traits that we pass on to our children, optimism or pessimism is going to be one of them. Let me ask you, “Do you know someone who is a pessimist? You know, that person that no matter what, the sky is always grey, the glass is never full enough, the sun is simply never going to shine in their part of the world.” My next question for you is, “Is this person someone you enjoy spending time with?” My final question, “Is it you?”
Whenever I speak of this topic, I feel like I need to make a disclaimer because I always worry that it’s going to s
ound like I don’t have compassion for those who continue to suffer or for those who really just seem to never “catch a break?” The truth is, I know from personal experience that some people seem to have more than their fair share of heartache and illness and unfairness and the list goes on. I’m not about to tell you that I understand why this seems to be the case sometimes. I really do not understand. However, what I know also from personal experience, is that how we see our life and our circumstances is really up to us.
I think women especially were made with an extra jar of “worrying” poured into our souls. Sometimes I wish I could just turn a knob that would turn my “worry” off and on. Because this is not possible, I have learned that what I can do to help myself see the good and hope for a better day is to count my blessings and have faith in God.
Counting our blessings is not meaningless. It’s not. It really, really works to loosen our anguish and comfort our hearts. When I take the time to stop and look around at my life, I am overwhelmed with the goodness of God and how he unceasingly gives me the things that I need.
What does having faith in God mean? It means first, that I know he is real and that I know he rules this universe. It means that I know he loves me and I know that my life matters to him. It means that I trust that when I kneel down and offer my prayers to him, that they are heard and that he wants to give me the things that I need to help me become more like him. I know that if I trust in his power and in his guidance, all things will work together for my good. This is how I exercise my faith in him.
Parents, our children need to be optimists, because happiness is dependent on optimism. I know you and I want our children to be happy, really happy. This will only occur as our children learn to take the trials of life in stride with faith and hope. They are watching us. They are listening to how we react to a really bad day or really bad news. Do they hear our hope? Do they hear our faith? Please make sure they don’t hear discouragement, resentment, anger, ingratitude and bitterness.
These feelings lead to unhappiness.
May we never forget that our happiness is a choice and that choice begins with optimism.
Very best,
Monica Irvine
