Life Unfolding Beautifully

Optimism

On the call last night, Christine was asking about the definition of this word. There are some who will read this and think, “What?” And there are others who will think, “Yeah! What does it mean?”

Most likely, there is at least one set point on the EGS that you may have thought did not relate to you or that you weren’t sure what the word meant.

I think there are two possible reasons for this.

First, not every set point is necessarily part of your reality. You may naturally flow up the EGS from Depression to Anger to Worry to Frustration to Boredom to Hopefulness… etc. And the set points in between may just be “whistle stops” on the way up.

Second, there may be another word that is more accurately a description of your particular interpretation of the set point. For me, this became evident at Contentment. A better word for me, that really does mean the same thing (at least I think it does) is Acceptance.

So, in our conversation last night, I rooted around for another word for Optimism. Other people may have one, but I couldn’t find one. I could think of several possible thesaurus entries, but they all related to other set points.

But one thing did occur to me. There are some phrases that might define set points for those who are having trouble with any of the words. Here’s my go at that:

Boredom

“I don’t care if things get better.”

Contentment

“I’m ok with things the way they are.”

Hopefulness

“It’s possible things could get better.”

Optimism

“I know things will get better.”

Positive Expectation / Belief

“I expect things will get better. And soon.”

Enthusiasm / Eagerness / Happiness

“I’m so happy that things are getting better. Woo Hoo!”

Passion

“I can feel that things are much better and it’s such a powerful feeling.”

Joy / Knowledge / Empowerment / Freedom / Love / Appreciation

“Things are better. In fact, they have always been better even when I couldn’t see that fact. I’m so in love with these things and how much better they really are. I feel completely liberated from any need to do anything about these things since I know that the Universe is completely handling everything. This feels so good and it feels better and better all the time.”