The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself:

1. To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

2. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

3. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

4. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

5. To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. (Well, it is more realistic also to prepare for the worst!)

6. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

7. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

8. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

9. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

10. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.


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Hurray for optimism!

I'm not sure about #2 though. Wouldn't people punch you for annoying them like that? :S

Original can be found here.

"Maybe We're The Pieces"

Tikkun Olam.
Tikkun Olam.

Translated, it means "repairing the world" or "perfecting the world" and it's a theory in Judaism. I came across this phrase while I was reading "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist", when Norah was explaining the idea to Nick. Basically, the concept of tikkun olam is that the world is broken down into pieces. Pieces, meaning chaos and disorder. And it's each person's job to find these pieces and glue them back together. Or in other words, it's our job to repair this fragmented world.

That idea, the idea that the world is broken, totally appeals to me. And I agree with Norah when she felt that the older people get, the more the world breaks and the more it wouldn't make sense to them. I guess that's the challenge we all have to face as we last longer in this life. We have to overcome this confusion, this disarray, in order for us to 'heal' the world. It's just sad that we're all caught up in our own mess to even look for these pieces.

Although, what hit me most about Nick and Norah's conversation about tikkun olam, was when Nick said this,

"Maybe that's it. With what you're talking about before. The world being broken. Maybe it isn't that we're supposed to find the pieces and put them back together."

"Maybe we're the pieces."

And then the chapter ends with Nick's,

"Maybe, what we're supposed to do is come together. That's how we stop the breaking."

...I guess it's really something to think about, huh?



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