Greet each day with a "can-do" attitude

because I think I have “got it”. The needle has edged over into can do territory out of can’t do territory and it is consistent.

I read Joan Didion’s book recently: The Year of Magical Thinking. She makes a bold statement..that grief is most assureded self pity. She is qualified to speak to the subject.
Well yes..I guess it has to be. She meant it (I believe) not to be a put down of depressed people—it is an observation. She writes (if I have it right) that mourning is a form of feeling sorry for oneself. Undeniable.
It is a fine line she walks by bringing this up. Depressed folks feel beaten down and then she tells us that we are self absorbed.
But she herself qualifies..so that makes it easier to take.
Here is what I think..a depressed person seems to be continually delving inside and coming up short. The effort to have a “can do” attitude is foreign. Maybe what Joan Didion is approaching by telling us that we think too much sad stuff about loss..is that we would be better off to move our thoughts elsewhere. Away from us onto something else.

I know I can and I will!
If my perfectionistic streak doesn’t kill me
(note to self: try to rachet down the perfectionism
thing, no one notices the grime on the shower curtain….er, do they?)

I will, I will!! blast it! I will!

I find most things are worth my best effort but I have fallen into the habit of sleepwalking through everything!

It’s a great day—filled with opportunities and sunshine! I am going to do my BEST all day long!

I am a little surprised about how automatic my gloomy thoughts are in the morning. No wonder I have been depressed! It seems “routine” to wake up and start hashing over old tapes.
Can pessimism be turned to optimism? I think it can. I am very interested in a book called Optimal Thinking. I may go out and get it today.

wahooooo! Well, it is sort of gray out..actually. Confession: my first thought this morning was NOT chipper…but my second one was! It may take a while to develop an automatic outstanding attitude, but I am game!

That’s right—-chipper! now there is a word you don’t hear that much anymore.
I am the first to admit I seem to have tendencies toward seeing the glass as half empty. I am doing what I can to CHANGE that..starting tomorrow, I PLEDGE to employ an outstanding attitude beginning right away in the morning!