#sm

If we define optimism broadly as the tendency to maintain a positive outlook, then realistic optimism is the tendency to maintain a positive outlook within the constraints of the available "measurable phenomena situated in the physical and social world" (DeGrandpre, 2000, p. 733). With respect to fuzzy meaning, realistic optimism involves enhancing and focusing on the favorable aspects of our experiences. Examples include being lenient in our evaluation of past events, actively appreciating the positive aspects of our current situation, and routinely emphasizing possible opportunities for the future. With respect to fuzzy knowledge, realistic optimism involves hoping, aspiring, and searching for positive experiences while acknowledging what we do not know and accepting what we cannot know. ↗

— Sandra L. Schneider

#constraints #evaluation #opportunities #optimism #positivity

The crucial question one comes back to is the examination; without that experience is meaningless. And I think it's true that society is becoming more and more passive, less and less fired up with enthusiasm, in many spheres. ↗

— Peter Hammill

#becoming #comes #crucial #enthusiasm #examination

Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace. ↗

— Nhat Hanh

#about #against #being #breathing #bring

Don't organize in the spirit of antagonism; that should be beneath your consideration. ↗

— Mark Hanna

#beneath #consideration #organize #should #spirit

I was nicknamed Skeeter in Little League because I was small and fast, like a mosquito flying across the outfield. ↗

— Skeet Ulrich

#because #fast #flying #i #league

The fact is, beneath the hype, Iraqis will soon appreciate American help and idealism far more than French perfidy. It is never wrong to be on the side of freedom - never. ↗

— Victor Davis Hanson

#appreciate #beneath #fact #far #freedom

I don't know much about Americanism, but it's a damn good word with which to carry an election. ↗

— Warren G. Harding

#americanism #carry #damn #election #good

Let it be stated clearly that mysticism is an a-rational type of experience, and in some degree common to all men. It is an intuitive, self-evident, self-recognized knowledge which comes fitfully to man. It should not be confounded with the instinctive and immediate knowledge possessed by animals and used by them in their adaptations to environment. The average man seldom pays enough attention to his slight mystical experiences to profit or learn from them. Yet his need for them is evidenced by his incessant seeking for the thrills, sensations, uplifts, and so on, which he organizes for himself in so many ways--the religious way being only one of them. In fact, the failure of religion--in the West, at any rate--to teach true mysticism, and its overlaying of the deeply mystic nature of its teachings with a pseudo-rationalism and an unsound historicity may be the root cause for driving people to seek for things greater than they feel their individual selves to be in the many sensation-giving activities in the world today. ↗

— Paul Brunton

#religion #experience

Maryland needs someone in Congress who will fight to create jobs, stop out-of-control government spending and defend small businesses. ↗

— Andrew P. Harris

#congress #create #defend #fight #government

Roosevelt was the one who had the vision to change our policy from isolationism to world leadership. That was a terrific revolution. Our country's never been the same since. ↗

— W. Averell Harriman

#change #country #had #isolationism #leadership