Defining Optimism

I’ve been experimenting with some new wording around the meaning of optimism that I want to share with you. Try this one on and walk it around the room:

Optimism is being open to the idea that this moment, exactly as it is, is perfect.

You might need to be gifted with complete knowledge and understanding to see it that way, though. I add that caveat because I’m not sure how often, if ever, our human limits allow us to see things with absolute clarity. I mean… We can’t even see the ultraviolet part of the light spectrum, am I right?

I fear that if I were to climb a mountain (of one kind or another) and find a true sage willing and able to deliver the profoundest of truths to me, that I would listen carefully, reflect deeply, and think, “Nah, that’s not it.” I’m just a goofy-ass human, after all — and hubris is a surprisingly powerful force.

So, what options are available to us humans — and within range of our actual abilities? I have come to believe that the quest is not to get the correct answers as if we were cribbing for some kind of universal-scale final exam. Instead, it’s being open to signals in the present moment that point to something greater… and then finding ways to take immediate action with whatever is available to you, imperfect as those abilities may be.

Flight of Icarus as performed by Iron Maiden.

Defining Optimism

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