Sunny Side Up

Optimism: The tendency to take the most hopeful view of matters or to expect the best outcome in any circumstance; practice of looking on the bright side of things; opposed to pessimism.


One of the things that drew me into The Fellowship and kept me coming back until things got better was the overwhelming sense I got from everyone that things were going to get better. There's very little bitching and moaning in a good meeting unless it's tongue in cheek. And it's not like we pretend that bad shit doesn't happen; we talk about our problems all of the time. It's just that we try to look through the bad to the good that we're sure is coming; we try to keep the bad in perspective, to accept the fact that pain and suffering is inevitable, to balance the relatively small amount of bad with the embarrassingly large amount of good. (Note to self: did I use the word accept? D'oh!) (Note to note to self: did I follow that up with a reference to balance? What is going on here?) (Final note to self: perspective? Perspective!? WTF?)



We do a lot of trudging through the mud so that we can get to the vacation villa overlooking the ocean. I used to plop down in the mud and cry.

"What's the use?" I'd moan. "There's so much mud here."

Now I think: "Man, this mud is really getting me in shape. I'm really going to appreciate the shower in my vacation villa. At least it's not raining."



It can be awfully frustrating when we have to deal with people who are waiting for something bad to happen. I have to bite my tongue sometimes. People who don't get to experience the fantastic benefits of a program -- and it doesn't have to be The Program, it can be any spiritual program -- don't want to hear some sunny side-up horseface dufus tell them that it's not so bad, it's not going to get better.



I try to avoid those people. It's pretty much a waste of my time.