“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”—Mahatma Gandhi
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“Optimism is the content of small men in high places.” This statement comes from the pen of Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, an American novelist and short story writer, whose literary contributions epitomize the Jazz Age, a term he himself introduced. He is widely acknowledged as one of the most significant American authors of the 20th century.
His thoughts came to mind as I reflected on the life of Helen Keller. At the tender age of two, she endured an illness that rendered her both blind and deaf. Her parents sought the advice of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, who suggested the Perkins Institute for the Blind located in Boston.
By the age of seven, Helen was instructed by Anne Sullivan using tactile methods. Consequently, Helen ultimately mastered Braille and began her studies at Radcliffe College, where her tutor facilitated her understanding of lectures.
Helen graduated with the highest honors. She acquired the skill to type on a Braille typewriter and authored numerous books between 1903 and 1941. She also developed a deep concern for all individuals who were blind, particularly those who lost their sight due to warfare or unfavorable working conditions. For her advocacy, she received a multitude of international accolades.
“Four things to learn in life: To think clearly without hurry, to love everybody sincerely, to act in everything with the highest motives, and to trust God unhesitatingly,” she wrote. On another occasion, she said, “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
The concept of optimism originates from the Latin term optimus, which serves as the superlative of bonus, translating to “the best” in a literal sense. In the English language, the term optimism first emerged in the mid-18th century, with its earliest documented instances found in 1759 by William Warburton and in translations of Voltaire.
As time progressed, its meaning expanded from a philosophical principle to a broader understanding of anticipating positive outcomes or adopting a hopeful perspective on life, with literary references from the early 19th century by authors like Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Within the context of the Bible, optimism is depicted as a manifestation of hope and trust in the nature and plans of God. In contrast to secular optimism, which may depend on individual viewpoints or the denial of challenges, biblical optimism is rooted in the conviction that God is faithful and sovereign over all circumstances (Psalm 42:11; Jeremiah 29:11).
As a matter of fact, optimism inspires believers to sustain their confidence even amidst difficulties, with the assurance that God orchestrates all events for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
A person who believes in optimism is called an optimist while a person who does the opposite is called a pessimist. “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty,” British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill surmised.
A pessimist sees failures as setbacks but an optimist considers them as challenges. “The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer pointed out.
Literature and history are replete with people who endured disabilities, possessed talents that were lesser than those of their peers, experienced dire circumstances, or encountered numerous setbacks. Nevertheless, they continued to pursue their dreams relentlessly.
So one wonders: What made them achieve? “Focus on your potential instead of your limitations,” Alan Loy McGinnis suggested.
So who never heard the name Thomas Alva Edison? In his lifetime, he had invented about 1,093 things – making him the person with more patents than any other person in the world. While most people credit his ability to creative genius, he credited it to hard work.
“Genius,” Edison once said, “is 99% perspiration and one percent inspiration.” That’s true but there’s a third factor: his positive attitude. At one time, he exclaimed to an assistant marvelling at the bewildering total of his failures – 50,000 experiments before he succeeded with a new storage battery: “Results? Why man, I have gotten lots of results. I now know 50,000 things that won’t work.”
Edison was an optimist who saw the best in everything. “If we did all the things we were capable of doing,” he pointed out, “we would literally astound ourselves.”
Frequently, those who do not achieve success attribute their failures to their situations; in contrast, successful people transcend their circumstances. Some individuals fixate on the barriers that confine them; successful people consistently seek ways to navigate beneath, above, around, or through those obstacles.
This philosophy of life is exemplified by Nido Qubein, a businessman, motivational speaker, and the President of High Point University since 2005. As the youngest of five children born to parents of Lebanese and Jordanian heritage, he arrived in the United States in 1966 with a limited command of the English language and merely $50 in his possession. However, he discovered that the ability to shape one’s future resides within oneself, as well as in one’s mindset.
In his book, The Power of Positive Influence, he suggested some ideas on what makes a person successful: “Surround yourself with positive influences. When you are surrounded by negative thinkers, images, or materials, it is easy to get bogged down in hopelessness.
“Read inspiring books and magazines. Listen to motivational recordings and speakers. Attend positive-thinking seminars or programs. Make it a point to read or watch or listen to something positive and inspiring at least once every day.
“Associate with positive people. Look for friends who feel good about themselves, people who have the attitude of gratitude. People who need to tear down others are not happy with themselves and are not good for you or your attitude.”
But most importantly, you should never, never give up. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up,” Thomas Alva Edison commented.
The words of American comedian Lucille Ball comes in handy: “One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”
