have unflagging faith in myself

And when I’m not, I’m good at bluffing.

Doors have opened for me through my life due to my determination, optimism and enthusiasm.

I’ve got to thank my faith and my family for fostering these traits.

I dreamt last night that I was in some kind of educational setting – as a student – sitting in a circle with a bunch of other students. One of them turned out to be someone whose opinion matters more to me than it probably should. People were standing up by turns and performing some action – singing was a big one – and I found myself hoping that I could get away with not participating even though I really wanted to sing, because in the presence of this other person I felt that everything that came out of my mouth would sound awful, or I’d just freeze up. In the dream there was such a clear difference between how I had been participating before I spotted this person and how I participated after I saw that he was in the group, and I lectured myself: “The only reason you’re thinking such negative thoughts about yourself is because you’re afraid that’s what he thinks!” “Oh, right . . . duh,” I said to myself in the dream, and then again upon waking up.

Yep, that’s me: Master of the Superobvious Subconscious.

Meh.

True confessions time – if you see me on the bus or subway and I don’t have my headphones on, chances are that I’m listening to a conversation to see if what they’re talking about even remotely comes close to what I thought of when I first saw them.

I’m almost never right, but perhaps that’s for the best. At least I’m consistent ;)

I need more. Right now I have “doggedness”, which works in a pinch but is not the same thing. I need to be not only stubborn, but also a great cheering section for myself (hey, Flash, this is one of the qualities you’ve got that prompted me to make that comment yesterday).

In the meantime, I would love to have more synonyms! Aren’t those three terrific words?