Are You a Spiritual Optimist or Pessimist?

by Joyce Shafer

If you've never given this consideration, you might discover you're a pessimist in an optimistâ??s â??clothing.â?? Suppose this is true, what could you do about it?

A concept I entertained myself with was how I might stay in joyful trust in Spirit all day; you know, a day with no doubts. The first thing that came to mind was a series of questions delivered by my power team (more on this coming up):

Do you believe in more than one power? No.Do you believe the Universal Laws are real and work? Yes.Are you able and/or willing to release thoughts and feelings that contrast joyful trust in Spirit, no matter what? Hmm . . . able? Sure. Willing . . . Iâ??m always willing; but that I always â??go thereâ?? immediately isnâ??t entirely accurate.

I tweaked this so it became Joyful (Because I) Trust Spirit.

Still wondering how to hold this feeling for an entire day, I considered what the opposite was: Miserable (Because I) Doubt Spirit.

Substitute the word you most often use for All That Is (I grew up with God, but now prefer Spirit): Miserable (Because I) Doubt God, No Matter What vs. Joyful (Because I) Trust God, No Matter What.

I follow the same morning routine I share in my coaching program, which means I set my intentions and interact with my imaginary power team. My teamâ??s responses about this were interesting and meaningful; in fact, they asked the questions listed above. And then I got to the team member I always confer with last . . . Spirit.

For my purposes, I personify Spirit so I can pretend to engage in familiar ways, which means hear a voice, etc. So Spirit asked me, â??How does it feel to look into my eyes and tell me youâ??re miserable because you donâ??t trust me, or you doubt me, no matter what?â?? Well, it didnâ??t feel good and maybe even kind of rude, all things considered.

There are times Iâ??m triggered negatively and have to shift my thinking based on what I know and what I prefer. Maybe Iâ??m a spiritual optimist with a pessimistâ??s trigger or a spiritual pessimist with an optimistâ??s technique. As long as I make the right shift, I donâ??t know that which one I am is ultimately important. Actually, Iâ??m each and none of them.

This is a concept Iâ??ll probably play with again; but for now, Iâ??m just happy to know that joyful or miserable, I Do Trust Spirit, no matter what. When my pessimist starts chatting, I think Iâ??ll imagine a face-to-face conversation with Spirit just to see how my inner pessimist manages to say and mean, â??Spirit, I am (choose one or more: miserable, unhappy, afraid, lacking, some other word) because I donâ??t trust you.â?? Ooh . . . I just realized how many ways I can play with or use this technique.

About Joyce Shafer
Joyce Shafer, LEC (jls1422@yahoo.com) is an author and creator of the Reinvent Yourself: Refuse to Settle for Less in Life and Business coaching program, who likes to help people Make Shift Happen! http://www.freewebs.com/coach4lifebalance (cool free empowerment tools). Her books and e-books are available at www.lulu.com and discounted at her Web Store.

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