Quotes of the Week from Me:

“I often think about the simple fact that some people are just way more charismatic than others.”

“Too many days are spent surrounded by cold, bright screens. Where did the warmth go?”

“Freedom and loneliness have too much in common.”

“Can we no longer disagree without disrespect?”

Quotes of the Week from Others:

“At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go in the same box.” – Italian Proverb

 “A ship in the harbor will always stay safe / Tied up to a dock ain’t why it was made / Craves wind through the sails, it’s wood on the waves / Paired to the great unknown.”

– From a song (new to me) I heard this week: Lighthouse, by William Prince, feat. in Those Who Wish Me Dead, a great watch on Netflix

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Quick Optimism:

Commitment commands respect. Commitment commands growth. Commitment commands fulfillment. And then it compounds. Commit.

Make life compound. Compounding works when things are identical, when they lead to something new, and when unique things work in harmony. Examples below.

How do you get in better shape?

Exercise.

Exercise. Exercise.

Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.

Exercise. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.

Exercise. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.

How can you improve your week?

Smile.

Smile. Smile.

Smile. Smile. Smile.

Smile. Smile. Smile. Smile.

Smile. Smile. Smile. Smile. Laugh.

How can you learn?

Ask.

Read. Read.

Listen. Listen. Listen.

Observe. Observe. Observe. Observe.

Attempt. Attempt. Attempt. Attempt. Attempt.

Questions of the Week:

Can we achieve inclusion? Is true acceptance possible?

Three days ago, I thought I lost the better part of my mind. I woke up to a cold room but hot coffee, thoughts racing in a quiet house. I had made the common mistake of opening my phone immediately upon waking. Politics. Scroll. ESPN. Scroll. I don’t remember what I was looking for, or if I was looking for something to begin with. But I do know that I have been working tirelessly to understand the world around me.

Day by day, week by week, it is important for us to pay attention. Observe. Experience our surroundings. The small details matter. But with the clutter of counterintuition, emotional outbursts, and what truly feels like digressional conversations, people continue to deflect each other today more than ever.

After reading what I just wrote, I thought to myself, “That doesn’t sound very positive.” Well, as I have said previously, and as is so important to practicing optimism, we must embrace the problems that exist while knowing that there is room for progress and resolve.

We must address the conflicts of the eyes down tendencies of new generations, and commit to the discomfort of true acceptance. True acceptance and inclusion will come from revamping the eyes up approach, actually learning about our differences, and working toward inclusion.

I tend to avoid specific examples when the heavy hitters start rolling. One issue here is that you can all probably come up with a different example after reading the above; a testament to the times we find ourselves in.

The point I am trying to make is that most of us relate to feelings of isolation at times. No matter the industry or social setting we find ourselves in, the space between our differences is growing while we read about new initiatives and efforts for coming together. Are we at the point where the next step in making progress is striking a line through what we thought were our greatest ideas for reform? I’ll let you decide.

As we tend to do here each week, we will end our newsletter with a great start to our Monday. I am writing my next children’s story and saw a fun connection to some of what’s covered above. The whole story will be on the website soon. It is based on walking in the woods with our son the other day, and stumbling upon a bunch of lemons on the side of the road in the woods. They didn’t belong there. But that’s not always a bad thing.

No better place to test out a rough draft than in front of a collection of awesome friends and strangers at the Weekly Optimist Newsletter. Thank you for reading!

The Lemons in the Woods

In the woods by the train track’s side,

A curious sight did there abide,

Lemons scattered, quite out of place,

In this woodland, a puzzling trace.

Yellow orbs amid the trees,

What brought them here, one might tease?

Yet children found them, oh, what luck,

An oddity by the railway’s muck.

They giggled, wondered, and did decide,

To roll those lemons, a merry stride.

Down graveled road, they did race,

Each lemon had its own brisk pace.

With joy and laughter, they did play,

Seeing which one would roll away,

Far down the path, through twists and bends,

Their lemon race had no real ends.

Nature’s surprise, a lemony find,

In the woods, a game different in kind.

Near the train tracks, a peculiar lot,

But oh, the fun they surely brought!