WHAT IS "POSITIVE THINKING"

Positive thinking is often criticized by the cynic and pessimist as unrealistic and at fault because it is a way of denying the problems, the tragedy, the hopelessness of some situations. It is not that at all. For positive thinking can be the antidote for hopelessness discouragement, and failure.

It can be a way of looking at the problems, the chaos, the less desirable characteristics of life and still see hope, solutions, and positive action that can be taken.

Positive thinking is the comprehension of the bigger dimension of life. It is having a dream in your heart and, having made it come true, start nurturing another.

Positive thinking is a way of looking at yourself that will help you build on your strengths, overcome your weaknesses, and tolerate your limitations. It is a way of letting your mind dwell on the things to be done with the realization that the greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to your opportunities and make the most of your resources. It is agreeing with Henry Thoreau who said, "People were born to succeed, not to fail.

Positive thinking is to welcome each day with interest and curiosity as a new adventure, a new experience. It is seeing opportunity in every situation and circumstance. It is knowing that even in sadness and tragedy there is a challenge to develop strength and compassion and to give help.

Positive thinking is the realization that people need you. There is a life to be brightened, a problem to be solved, a task to be done; and you can do it best! It is the viewpoint expressed by the artist Sir Anthony Van Dyck: "This is my work, my blessing, not my doom."

Positive thinking is to identify yourself with other people's positive rather than negative characteristics. It is to find all people interesting even if they aren't always enjoyable. It is learning to respond to criticism and negativism with genuine patience, humility, and tolerance rather than with anger and revenge. Perhaps it has something to do with an attitude of love -- the love of people, of life, and yes, even the love of yourself.

Positive thinking is to pause from time to time and ponder on the good things of life. It is to become immersed in the infinity of the universe and feel the beauty of the stars poking holes in the blackness of the night and a flower reaching for the warmth of the sun. It is letting your senses respond to a song, a smile, the splatter of raindrops, the touch of a hand, or the whisper of leaves rippled by a warm summer breeze.

Perhaps positive thinking, or what we call "attitude enrichment," is not such a casual thing after all. If you feel you have become more positive by your experiences over the years, that may be quite an achievement in itself.

It may just be what living is all about. Your life will be shaped by what you are and do. You will learn what you live.

You can touch the lives of those around you by demonstrating the cluster of attitudes you have been developing. Perhaps these words, written by Stephen Grellet, a French-born Quaker who died in 1855, should now become your objective; "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."

Keep exploring! Keep discovering! Keep working! Keep striving! Keep growing! So that each day you can enter into the log of the course of your life the same immortal words that Christopher Columbus wrote in the log of the Pinta as he faced danger, storms, hunger, mutiny, and fatigue in the uncharted Atlantic: "This day we sailed on!