How to be Determinedly Optimistic!
“How was your summer?” The friendly barista at my gym here in Ireland asked me.
“Good really, I certainly can’t complain,” I replied.
“No one would listen anyway,” he added chuckling.
I thought about that. It’s true. We really don’t want to listen to people who complain. Yet, why do so many of us continue to keep up the constant drum-beat of negativity.
You know the types. Every business project is overwhelming. Every boss doesn’t understand them. Their aches and pains. The traffic. The weather.
Ah, the weather. That’s an especially good subject being the transplanted American living here in Ireland now. Just over a week ago, I was wrapping up a wonderful month in the US – speaking and training at conferences and then spending time with family and friends in the hot and humid Midwest. We wore sleeveless shirts and sandals.
Now, I’m back in Cork, Ireland where the clouds are almost always moving. I wake up and there’s sun and by the time I make the bed, the wind and rain have swept in. Then five more minutes and the sun breaks out again –complete with rainbow. Last week, I saw three rainbows in one day. No kidding.
The Irish are what I like to describe as “determinedly optimistic” about weather. They make up funny sayings about it like,
We have four seasons in one day.
Or
What are an Irish person’s two favorite days? Christmas and summer.
When our plane landed, my daughter, Lulu, and I quickly put on the sweaters we had brought with us for our walk across the brisk and breezy tarmac to the customs and baggage claim terminals.
Yesterday was her first day back to school. She wore her school’s “summer uniform” which, naturally, comes complete with matching cardigan. Lulu also reached for a white scarf with dragonflies on it. She wrapped three times around her neck. She was ready to go and she was happy – no matter what the weather.
After I dropped her off, I zipped over to the shopping center for a few items before getting to work. I noticed other ladies at the shops were also wearing brightly colored scarves. And sleeveless shirts. And sandals.
It was if they were proclaiming, “The calendar still says it’s summer, no matter what the weather may feel like.”
This week Time magazine is listing 13 ways to be a better human being. It starts from within. From our attitude to our work, our family, even the weather.
What are we proclaiming every day? Are we being determinedly optimistic or are we constantly complaining?
Who is listening to us? What opinions are they forming?
It’s up to you, isn’t it? I say,
Grab a proverbial scarf and keep going!
Copyright 2015 Gina London. All Rights Reserved.
The Optimism of Daffodils
As it is Daffodil Day here in Ireland, a day to donate, volunteer and wear a daffodil in support of finding a cure for cancer, I am reminding us all of the grand optimism that resides in these buttery bright flowers!
Amid lingering piles of snow, battering gusts of wind or, like here in Ireland, drenching torrents of rain, it may not yet feel like spring is at hand. But some diligent stalwarts are already foretelling the new season’s arrival.
Like many of us, they have spent the winter in dark solitude. Unseen, they may have been largely forgotten. But they did not need to be recognized or rewarded or encouraged. They are self-motivators, working steadily throughout the cold months driven by determination.
And now in our parks and along the green, grassy medians of our roadways, the rewarding results of their tireless labors are emerging.
An old man in worn and shabby clothing meanders among the rows of bright yellow and looks out upon them. An overly critical eye might predispose one to assume he should be given a wide berth; he is very likely a person not worth engaging. But one would be wrong indeed.
This unassuming gentleman spoke and perfectly summed up the sentiment that rings through these dependable heralds with faces stretching upward toward an inconsistent sun:
Ah, the optimism of daffodils.”
How many times are we burdened by work or family or life and forget that a little dogged determination, or focused optimism - viewed as an action-word - not a simple state of being or emotion - will get us through?
Take a tip from the daffodils. The sun will come out again. Maybe not tomorrow. But it will.
Copyright 2015 Gina London. All Rights Reserved.
Tree Therapy. It's not just for the Birds.
It’s national “Tree Week” here in Ireland. Although some of you may still be looking out on expanses of that cold wet white stuff called snow, the sun here in Cork is bright - and considering it is now March, one might safely say the air is spring-like.
So, it’s timely that the Irish Independent newspaper published an article today touting the healthy benefits of exposing yourself to trees. Well, not exposing yourself in that sense. Shame on you. But the article sites research – conducted in Europe, Asia and Australia – that demonstrates
walking in a forest or going to a park can measurably reduce stress, boost immunity and calm aggression.
Specifically in Britain, a study found recovery rates improved faster if the patients could simply see trees from their hospital window.
Recently, I have been racked by the flu and a throat-splitting cough that has left me with laryngitis. The doctor says it’s a virus that's going around. Only time, rest, plus perhaps warm water with lemon and honey (and a dash of Irish whiskey) will help. I usually conquer the flu in a couple of days, but this bout is moving into two weeks!
Eager and impatient to improve, I also sought out a salt-therapy clinic upon the advice of a well-meaning friend. However, 175 Euro and five hour-long sessions later, I cannot concretely say I feel a direct improvement from sitting in that darkened room with its sodium-filled trough around its perimeter breathing in the salty-air. And as my symptoms persist, my good humor and regular upbeat outlook seem to be disappearing like my voice.
So, maybe it’s not time, rest, lemon-honey-water plus salt-therapy that will do the trick. Instead I am moved by this week’s reminder and supportive research reports that the great outdoors are exactly that. Great.
I am well enough to get out of the house, not only to drive to the pharmacy for another bottle of cough expectorant, but why not also to take a walk?
- Get out of the office.
- Drive past the shopping centers and cinemas.
- Go to a forest.
Memories of growing up in rural Indiana where our spring-time weekend family outings often meant hunting for morel mushrooms together in the woods come flooding to my mind. I always feel better physically and emotionally after a walk among the trees.
It just so happens we live thirty minutes away from one of the world’s rare alluvial forests, The Gearagh. Like a trip to the salt-clinic, a walk in the forest will surely not directly impact my sore vocal chords. But now, with or without my restored voice, I feel my sagging spirits lift as I prepare to trek among the ancient oaks and search for exotic birds and plants. Plus, since The Gearagh is an Irish Nature Preserve, this therapy will be free.
That’s a therapy few of us can afford not to take.
Copyright 2015 Gina London. All Rights Reserved.
This American is now driving on the LEFT side of the road and what she learned is something we can all ... “Whoa! BEEP! Crash!”
I’m an American now living in Ireland where everyone drives on the left - or as some less generous folks might say – the WRONG side of the road.
Although we managed during the three years we lived in Italy to not own a car, it really wasn’t feasible here. So, last month, my husband and I steeled our nerves and bought one.
Driving is something I had long taken for granted. I have been guilty of tapping and talking on my phone, applying makeup, even writing notes while driving.
But now, with the ink barely dry on the sales contract and the new ignition card (it’s not a key) in hand, I am faced with getting behind the wheel on the opposite side of the car and driving on the complete opposite side of the road – making turns and everything– FOR THE FIRST TIME.
I picture Mr. Toad and his wild ride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l8ez0zkIiY
My heart is pounding. Oh-my-gosh is that a round-about? I have to turn to the left to enter it, right? I mean, correct? Oh, no, I need to be in the other lane, this is a turn-only lane. Oh-my-gosh the oncoming traffic looks like they're coming RIGHT AT ME.
Okay. Breathe. I MUST be alert. Vigilant. This is no time for complacency.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gl0f4wOvQU
The first couple of days are a challenge.
For instance, residential roads here in Ireland are incredibly narrow. A single lane sized street will actually be intended for two lanes of traffic with the added hazard of cars being parked along the sides. Shoulders do not exist. Drivers will take up the full roadway until they see a car heading their way, then one will need to try and pull over to let the other head on through. It’s makes for a fantastically jerky driving dance, but somehow it works.
Perhaps it's because, here, drivers are very polite. If you signal your intention to merge into a new lane, the car behind you will actually slow down to let you in, not speed up to close the gap like I am more used to!
I continue to take is slow and I’m getting more sure of myself every day. I am learning a new skill and improving my confidence along the way. It's a lot like life, isn’t it?
What challenges are you facing today? What project or endeavor is out there that you would like to do, or know you have to do, but are afraid to try? What is holding you back?
Sure, you might be scared, but go ahead. Go slow. Be alert.
The people around you might be more encouraging than you imagined beforehand.
The only way you can accomplish something new - is to start. Even Mr. Toad managed in the end.
Copyright 2014 Gina London. All Rights Reserved.
Blarney, not Baloney: Communication Lessons from Kissing the Blarney Stone
Yesterday, my husband and our six-year-old daughter, Lulu visited Blarney Castle – just a few minutes’ drive from our newly adopted home of Cork, Ireland.
In case you have been living under a rock and don’t already know, the 600-year-old fortress is famous for a particular piece of carboniferous limestone with the legendary power to instill the communicative gift of Blarney upon anyone who kisses it. Blarney, as defined in humorous postings in and around the castle, is very distinct from Baloney.
To reach the stone in question, you must first climb 110 narrow, slippery-from-Ireland’s-perpetual-autumn-mist stone stairs to the top of the castle tower.
Baloney is “praise so thick, it cannot be true.”
While Blarney is said to be “flattery so thin, we love it.”
Once you reach the top, you then must turn and face away from the parapet and kneel backwards looking out high above the green rolling hills of the valley. Next, begin to stretch your body – almost back-bend-style - against the castle wall.
Baloney, they say, is telling a 50-year-old woman she looks 18.
But Blarney is asking an older woman how old she may be, because, as you tell her, you want to know at what age women are most beautiful.
A friendly Irishman (yes, that’s redundant) named Dennis helped us put one hand on each of the two metal support rails to steady ourselves as we stretched our heads downward to the extremely difficult to reach gift-giving stone - and smooched away.
Tis there’s the stone that whoever kisses, he never misses to grow eloquent; ‘Tis he may clamber to a lady’s chamber or become a member of Parliament, a noble spouter he’ll sure turn out. " - Francis Sylvester Mahony
Perhaps our new words will be a bit smooth, but they will also be words that are kind and caring designed to bring a smile to our listeners’ faces and leave them feeling more valuable and valued than when we first began. Nothing wrong with that. It reminds me of another lovely sentiment I have also heard from my new Irish friends:
It costs nothing to be kind.
Whew. So, the perilous gymnastics required to kiss the Blarney stone were well-worth it.
Except for our six-year-old. Lulu said she already knows how to talk a lot and will kiss it another time. Truer words may never have been spoken. And that’s no blarney.
Copyright 2014 Gina London. All Rights Reserved.