When I was first starting out in the Transnational Division at Lear I was sent to Dale Carnegie. And Lord, have mercy, I needed it. I was mean, and hurt, and hurtful. The later because I could be. I learned a lot in that course. More than I ever thought possible. I did have an issue with the week that we had to memorize “The Box Factory”. Seriously, I was quite the little B word and refused to do it. I am sure Sue (the instructor) wanted to kill me, but she didn’t.

There was one instructor, Wendy, she wrote this poem, and read it, and I loved it from the first time I heard it and for 6 years it has traveled to each desk, makes its way to the wall in a place where I can be reminded of it, daily, hourly if I need to. I think for the next couple days I am going to search for scripture verses for each sentence.

The Optimist’s Creed

Promise Yourself…

To be so strong that nothing disturbs your peace of mind
To speak only of health, happiness, and prosperity to everyone you meet
To let your friends know that you see something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true
To think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best
To be just as enthusiastic about the successes of others as you are about your own
To forget about the mistakes of the past and forge on to greater achievements of the future
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
And give every single living thing you meet a smile
To spend so much time improving yourself that you don’t have time to criticize others
To be too noble for anger
To strong for fear
To large for worry
And too happy to permit the presence of trouble.