Optimism

I live with an eternal optimist.  She sees the possibility of goodness in every situation, every single person in every area of our lives.  As I have been thinking about optimism lately I came to wonder if people are predestined to be optimistic or pessimistic.  Kind of a lame thought if you got stuck on the half empty side!  As I've read more and more about it and have searched my life for examples I've concluded that we have a choice everyday whether or not we are going to look at something through rose colored glass or not.  I don't know about you but I vary widely from day to day, maybe that's my innate sense of over-dramatizing things, or is it over-analyzing things and reacting too sensitively to the analysis?! 

I have found that living with a person like Sally has helped me see greater potential in what I can achieve. Optimists tend to make many, many plans and truly think that they can achieve all these goals. They crazy thing is, they usually do. Being optimistic can piss off pessimists. I know because I used to wallow in my own bouts of pessimism like a pig in mud pulling any and everyone down around me because so and so was achieving something I would rather not hear about. Yeah, wow. But for the most part I'm a pretty positive guy, in fact, I'd say I'm optimistic.  

Especially now. As the weight came off and I fought through those days when I thought it was a waste of time or I thought I was destined to be a fat guy forever an amazing transformation took place within me. I became optimistic. I now believe in myself and I believe that if I make a goal I will achieve it. It is a powerful thing and it's very contagious! I'm lucky to have someone like Sally around me at all times reminding me that I can do it and most importantly that I WILL do it. 

I found a few articles about Optimism and it's benefits on our health and well-being. Very interesting stuff. Check it out if you are interested. Here, here & here.

And...if you are needing an inspiring quote or two on any topic go to this great site: ThinkExist

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." ~Winston Churchill 

Ode to Sigg

My brother-in-law, Jafar, sent me a text that made me laugh then got me to think. It was a small poem about his Sigg bottle that Sally and I got for him for Christmas. When we gave it to him we gave him the rundown on the benefits of having a reusable bottle (yada yada) and I told him how I find that I drink a lot more water because of it. Jafar and I talk a lot about our eating (or over-eating) habits and when he sent me this text it hit a chord because I have come to the realization lately how important it is to drink water all the time. I find that if I'm not at work, I don't drink nearly enough. I'm working on it, but without further ado…here is the text I received this morning:

"Take a swig out my sigg helps prevent me eatin like a pig! Ya dig!" ~Jafar

I was searching around for a scientific interpretation of Jafar's poem and found this strikingly similar message:

"If there is a slight dehydration the thirst mechanism may be mistaken for hunger and one may eat when the body is actually craving fluid."

Personally, I like Jafar's quote…It rhymes, it's to the point and it's backed by science!

Here's a picture of Jafar and his wife, Hailey, during a photo shoot we did of them awhile back. This was before he had his new Sigg...just think of how much higher he may have jumped!




Just a reminder...I'm still hoping more of you will share songs that you like when you work out. I'm thinking of compiling them all onto my iPod and taking them out for a jog...just enter them in the comments field of the last post!!



One last thing, DRINK MORE WATER!