'You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative'

by David Grand
March 11, 2009

Over the years, I've often hummed that song recorded by Bing Crosby when I was down on my luck and feeling as dejected as a dog that lost its tail.

Can't say it helped much in getting me out of the doldrums, any more than did the sticker I put on my car reading: "Just Pretend It's All Okay."

And I get mixed reactions from other drivers who observe that sticker. Some give me a wry smile, while others give me the "finger." But so far, no one has tried to remove it, or run me off the road.

Now, I know it's especially hard to be optimistic and happy in this hell-in-a-hand basket world we live in today, what with bad news seeming to be everywhere: from the crumbling economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , the crisis in the Middle East and the starving masses in Africa.

But we should, according to an article by Barbara Yost of the Arizona Republic , take heart in knowing that a concept gaining ground in the field of psychology could provide some help in developing and enhancing an optimistic outlook.

A few excerpts from which are: (1) that those who study the science of happiness say that learning to emphasize the positive over the negative could tip the scales in favor of happiness, and that all it takes is a little training; (2) that the quest for happiness is not new, what with Budda contemplating the nature of happiness around 500 B.C.; America's founding fathers codifying it as a worthy pursuit in the Declaration of Independence; and as the inspiring message in minister Norman Vincent Peale's 1952 book, The Power of Positive Thinking; (3) and  that, as clinical psychologist  Alex Zautra said, "the key is to recognize that we don't have to be happy all the time, and that happiness and unhappiness are two halves of a whole life." (Nice words to live by, if only we all could.)

Talking about  being optimistic in another context, I came across an article by the financial editor of Daily Finance, Joseph Lazzaro, who set forth five reasons to remain sanguine about the U.S. economy:

• President Obama's renewable energy program will help jump-start the solar, wind, and related alternative energy sectors--and that has the potential of creating many new jobs and becoming a major export sector for American companies.
• His health care reform plan will eventually free up hundreds of billions of health care dollars for other uses in the economy, by wringing out waste and mismanagement.
• The so-called Smart electric grid he wants to install would substantially upgrade the nation's broken down, inadequate electric grid, and provide the ability to deliver power from any point in the nation to almost any region,
• If the DOW can hold at 6300, that would, as John Murphy, Chief Technical Analyst at StockCharts.com believes, presage the end of the bear market and the beginning of the next bull run. (I hope he's right and that Murphy's law doesn't kick in.)
• The U.S. 's productive capacity and the can-do attitude of the American people are the strongest and most important positives we have for overcoming the deepening recession.

Now, don't you feel more confident about being able to face the future with your head held high than you did before reading these words of wisdom?