Does optimism seem like a natural choice for you to make? Or do you have to work hard to keep disappointments and potential negative outcomes from drowning out your positive expectations? There’s little doubt that your choice to be optimistic can serve you well in any situation. And it is a choice. But if you answered “yes” to the first question, optimism may be an important and powerful part of your inner design. The Real You needs to know: Is optimism one of your inner strengths?
What Are Inner Strengths?
In the last few weeks, we’ve been leading up to an important opportunity. It’s a chance for you to discover the important difference between acquiring a skill or good habit from life’s experiences versus intentionally developing a design-driven inner strength.
Skills and habits are acquired. You can put them to use in circumstances that will serve you, your community or your workplace in a helpful way. But skills and habits are external to your natural design. Inner strengths have a very different nature.
Inner strengths are innate. They are literally inner powers that are an inseparable part of your inner design. When developed, these strengths propel you in the direction you are hard-wired to go. Use inner strengths properly and these are the results you’re maximizing:
- Positive impact on people that matter to you
- Sustainable change in your own mindset
- Enjoyment and fulfillment from your efforts
- A healthier self-image that acts as a force multiplier
- Strong awareness of purpose
Inner Strengths Have Changing Power
The payoffs from developing inner strengths come in every form: emotional, physical and spiritual. Take the changing power of optimism for example…
Remember the wise pre-flight advice from flight attendants? [Memory Jog on “Knowing Your Nearest “Exits”] Just a few days ago, I got to experience the real effects of a flight attendant taking their own advice and seeing it work first hand! It was the first time I have ever put one of my kids on a plane as an “unaccompanied minor” . . .
Circumstances required my husband and me to set anxieties aside so that our youngest could join vacation time with the cousins (already in progress). And after a 2-hour departure delay, the actual flight, and another 2 hours sitting on the tarmac waiting for an open gate, the passengers on my son’s plane were beside themselves! It was supposed to only be a 1-hour flight and most everyone had missed their connections to get home. The food courts were closed. The air conditioning was broken. People don’t get much messier than this! I was so worried that my little guy would feel scared by having to wait so long to get off a plane filled with cranky people. The stress continued to mount as I sat there staring at his plane stuck on the tarmac.
Finally, they began to disembark. The first half of the exhausted passengers came out openly expressing their disgust for the whole experience. There was a lot of colorful cursing, head-shaking, and creative “hand signals” toward the crew. I let my optimism die a quick death as my negative expectations grew. I began to dread my son’s declarations of never flying again followed by a traumatized recollection of all the “mean” people that were acting scary.
But something very impressive happened as the second half of the passengers began to exit.
With each person that came off the plane, the expressions on their faces began to change. Instead of disgust, they expressed gratitude for arriving safely. Instead of angry, they seemed happy to be going on with the rest of their journey. What could possibly be the reason for this dramatic shift?! Here’s what I observed:
The fight attendant taking care of the group at the back of the plane possessed optimism by design! After years of training to help people identify their own inner designs and the strengths that come with the design, I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting it. Optimism was one of his inner strengths that he had learned to use properly. The effects of his optimism on other people were undeniable! This gentleman was also assigned to assist my son with anything he needed. As they both came off the plane together, my son was smiling…laughing even. He said, “This was really fun, Mom! When can I do it again?”
. . . Uhhhh . . . what?! Could this be the hidden power of OPTIMISM!
Optimism: A Perspective You Choose, or an Inner Strength You Possess?
OPTIMISM AS A SKILL
Anyone can choose an “optimistic” point of view to help them walk through life’s challenges. It’s a good choice, even in bleak circumstances because it shifts your focus to any positive you can find.
If I had chosen to hold on to my optimism, it would have helped me reduce a ton of stress and anxiety as I waited for the plane. It’s a good habit for me to keep my optimistic perspective. But optimism is not an inner strength of mine. It isn’t a natural part of me, even though I can practice its use and see positive results. But in this case, my resolve to hold on to it waned.
OPTIMISM AS AN INNER STRENGTH
When the flight attendant used his optimism, it was a very natural extension of the way he lives his life. And he used his strength of optimism to change the emotional climate of many around him on the plane. His use of the inner strength he possessed changed how other people actually processed the whole “plane flight from hell” experience!
BUT if optimism is an innate strength of your inner design, its power takes on an entirely different intensity. In this case, optimism is not only your healthy emotional fuel, it’s essential to your powerfully positive, freedom-loving lifestyle that is able to truly enjoy the present moment. Optimism is a “GRAB & GO” inner strength of “SPs.”
Find Out if Optimism Is One of Your “Grab & Go” Inner Strengths
Are you an optimistic “SP”? Once you learn about the Real You, then you can get on with being the Real You.
START HERE:
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- Grab a copy of INNERKINETICS by Ray Lincoln which will define more clearly the right use of your Inner Strengths.
- Learn how to develop this “GRAB & GO” inner strength called optimism.