Ray’s Daily
December 3, 2019
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Winston Churchill
As you know I am an optimist. I just don’t want to spend my time agonizing over what I can’t change. I will do what I can when my effort may help but I avoid spending too much time tilting windmills.
Life is so much better if you resist the pessimist’s effort to make you unhappy. I am lucky that most of the folks I know have learned to roll with the punches and stay on the bright. Here some helpful thoughts from Henrik Edberg if you need help in join our happy band of optimists.
How to Become an Optimist: 3 Daily Habits To Help You Get Started
One of the most common questions people ask me via email is how to become more of an optimist. So this week I’d simply like to share three habits that can help you to get started with that.
- Ask yourself questions that let you see the optimistic viewpoint.
Questions like:
- What is one thing that is positive or good about this situation?
- What is one thing I can learn from this situation?
- What is one opportunity within this situation?
These questions are not something that I can always use right away. Sometimes I need some time to process and accept the feelings and thoughts that arise.
- Get optimistic support from the world around you.
One of the most important factors if you want to be able to stay optimistic are the influences around you. Optimism is – just like enthusiasm – contagious. So find ways to create an environment that supports you.
Try to spend more time with optimistic people and less time with people who seem to always be negative about things. Positive people will support you, add upbeat energy and can help you to find a constructive change in perspective when you have a situation that is bringing you down and when you are just making a mountain out of a molehill.
- The way you start your day often sets the tone for the rest of it.
A stress-free morning leads to less stress and better focus during your day. A work out early in your day leads to more energy throughout the day.And optimism while you are eating your cereal or traveling to work or school can help you to stay positive and constructive as you go through the ups and downs of your day.
Three practical ways to get this good start is to:Read or watch something optimistic or funny for 10-20 minutes during your morning. Have an uplifting conversation over breakfast or early in your day. Listen to a motivating audiobook or podcast as you ride the bus, your bicycle or while you’re walking somewhere.
~~~
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
Anais Nin
~~~
Ralph, our Hoosier gourmet reports that some Wal-Mart customers soon will be able to sample a new discount item: Wal-Mart’s own brand of wine. The world’s largest retail chain is teaming up with E&J Gallo Winery of Modesto, California, to produce the spirits at an affordable price, in the $2-5 range. While wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to throw a bottle of Wal-Mart brand wine into their shopping carts, there is a market for cheap wine, said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. She said: “The right name is important.”
So, here we go–the top 12 suggested names for Wal-Mart Wine:
- Chateau Traileur Parc
- White Trashfindel
- Big Red Gulp
- Grape Expectations
- Domaine Wal-Mart “Merde du Pays”
- NASCARbernet
- Chef Boyardeaux
- Peanut Noir
- Chateau des Moines
- I Can’t Believe It’s Not Vinegar!
- World Championship Riesling
And the number 1 name for Wal-Mart Wine
- Nasti Spumante
The beauty of Wal-Mart wine is that it can be served with white meat (Possum) and red meat (squirrel).
~~~
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
~~~
Our co-worker went missing for a few hours, and we tore up the place looking for him. The boss finally found him fast asleep. Rather than wake him, he quietly pinned to the man’s shirt a note saying, “As long as you’re asleep, you still have a job. But as soon as you wake, you’re fired!”
~~~
Before I can retaliate, does someone first have to taliate?
~~~
Rabbis Levy, Samuel and Kosiner were ‘progressive’ reform rabbis and were talking one day about the recent advances made by their synagogues. Rabbi Levy said, “we’re very modern – we allow mobile phones to be used during services – we even have re-charging points all over the synagogue.”
“Well,” said Rabbi Samuel,” we’ve installed a snack bar at the back of the synagogue for those who feel hungry or thirsty during services – we serve falafel in pita and latkes and new green cucumbers.”
“That’s nothing to what we do, my friends,” said Rabbi Kosiner, “we close our synagogue for the Jewish holidays.”
~~~
A key ring is a handy little gadget that allows you to lose all your keys at once.
~~~
A young man, of 22 years, decided to apply for a job at a new factory being built in a nearby town. He entered the main office, where the receptionist handed him several forms to fill out.
Then she directed him down the hall, to the first office on the right, where he was to be interviewed by the Personnel Officer.
After several minutes of describing and explaining all about the new factory, the Personnel Officer told the young man:
“We need individuals who are totally responsible.”
The young man grinned and responded: “Well, I sure qualify. Everywhere I’ve worked, when something went wrong, I was responsible!”
~~~
The person who spends all of today bragging about what he is going to accomplish tomorrow probably did the very same thing yesterday.
~~~
Jeremiah had heard stories of an amazing family tradition. It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 21st birthdays to the boat club across the lake for their first legal drink.
So when Jeremiah’s 21st came around, he and his pal Dwight took a boat out to the middle of the lake. Jeremiah stepped out of the boat and nearly drowned. Dwight managed to pull him to safety.
Furious and confused, Jeremiah went to see his grandmother.
“Grandma,” he asked, “it’s my 21st birthday, so why can’t I walk across the lake like my father, his father, and his father before him?”
Granny looked into Jeremiah’s eyes and said, “Because your father, grandfather and great-grandfather were born in January; you were born in July.
~~~
Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.
~~~
Boarding a military transport plane, I noticed hydraulic fluid pouring from the tail section.
“Excuse me,” I said to a crew member. “Do you know the aircraft has a leak?”
“Yep,” he said as he continued on his way.
“Aren’t you concerned?”
He shrugged.
“Well,” I asked, “how do you know when you’re out of fluid?”
“When it quits leaking,” he answered.
~~~
“Life is too short to spend your precious time trying to convince a person who wants to live in gloom and doom otherwise. Give lifting that person your best shot, but don’t hang around long enough for his or her bad attitude to pull you down. Instead, surround yourself with optimistic people.”
Zig Ziglar
~~~
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
Ray’s Daily has been sent for more than fifteen years to people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@gmail.com. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are more than 2000 readers from around the world.
Ray's Daily 
Leave a Reply