Blog

Viewing posts for the category optimism

Cherish Every Moment

At this moment, I feel stressed.

I feel pulled in 1000 directions.

I feel like I am doing too much; I feel like I'm not nearly doing enough.

I love the people I get to spend my days working with. 

I love what we are working on.

I love the person (and dogs) I get to go home to tonight.

I love the direction of our work and our lives. 

But, I feel lost in the moment.

A few days ago, I asked some friends the question, "what is missing from your life?"

I was delighted to hear their answer was, "nothing."

And I realized my own answer was "nothing."

I know at almost every other time in my life, I would have had a different answer.

Today I don't.

So why the feeling of loss?

Being grateful is a choice. I was choosing to experience the problems.

Not to just experience the moment.

Good or bad, every moment with every person I interact with, I can simply cherish.

Cherish every moment.

Be Happy and Improve the Ability of Others to be Happy

The other day somebody asked me "If you had to, what would you say the purpose of life is?" The answer I chose is "to be happy and improve the ability of others to be happy."

We all share the human condition. Some of us started life in a really great place, while others were dropped in chaos and suffering. None of us got to choose and I can not think of a better notation of meaning than helping our fellow travelers make the most of life.

What a wonderful opportunity we are given, be happy and improve the ability of others to be happy.

Farewell 2016

There is this running joke online that the year 2016 was horrible. Sure, lots of famous people seem to have died (anecdotal) and there is a general uncertainty about the future (trump). However being an optimist, I think it's important to remember that the word is still getting better. In fact, the world is better than it has ever been.

Worldwide poverty is in a free fall.

Child mortality rates are too.

Although there is a rising global fear around terrorism, conflict-related deaths are just about as low as they have ever been.

And on a really positive note, almost half the world is online. With no sign of the progress slowing down.

Continuing on that positive note, albeit on a much smaller scale, I've personally had a great year. Of the 5 resolutions I set for myself this year, I've completed 4 of them. With the 5th hopefully being completed soon... I know mysterious. I never wrote those resolutions with the intention of sharing them. But this year I'm going to, my next post will contain my resolutions for 2017.

Happy NYE!

Note:

All the charts here are from ourworldindata.org, I highly recommend this article on their site about why most people think the world is getting worse and how they are wrong.