ENGAGING THOUGHT
A.A. Milne created so many timeless, beloved characters in the tales of Winnie the Pooh and his woodland friends. There's Pooh with his refreshing naivete; Tigger and his boundless energy; Piglet's devoted loyalty; Rabbit's good-natured cantankerousness; and then there's good ol' Eeyore. Eeyore, the lovable pessimistic donkey. Nothing ever goes quite right for him...which is fine...he doesn't really expect it to, anyways. "Not that it really matters much." In all the magical tales, Eeyore is the one who can be counted on to find the grey cloud for every silver lining! Charmingly cute.
In real life that person sucks! No one likes them. No one wants to be around them. No one wants to invite them to the party because they might actually come! You know who they are and you're already picturing them in your mind's eye, aren't you? They are the pessimists. The critics. The "I'm-only-telling-you-because-I-love-you" people. They believe they're doing everyone a favor by being "honest." Well, they aren't helping everyone, they're just dragging everyone down to their level of misery. They are everywhere. They are obnoxious. They are waiting to pounce on your DREAM like sharks smelling blood in the water.
They are also very predictable. Pessimists cannot stand it when someone decides to take ownership and action and move forward in life. We could spend hours and hours trying to dissect their complex psychological make-up in an attempt to discover what it is that drives them to tear everything down, and we'll still not figure them out (and if we did, they'd just say we were wrong!). There's an old adage that says, "forewarned is fore-armed." Basically it means that for you, since you know they're going to try to kill your enthusiasm as you pursue God's DREAM, you can anticipate their attacks and be ready for them.
You really shouldn't be surprised when they think pursuing God's DREAM is silly or pointless. You shouldn't be caught-off-guard when they highlight all the ways your DREAM is stupid or foolish or selfish. When they "do you the favor" of being "honest and real" just smile, thank them for their concern, and as soon as possible forget everything they said to you! Pessimists have nothing of value to say because they aren't really looking for ways to help, they're looking for ways to keep everyone else living in the same cess-pool of misery and negativity that they've resigned themselves to.
Let's be fair to the pessimists - I'm not advocating for you to be mean to them in any way. It's a general rule that hurt-people hurt people (reread that slowly until you get it). They are obviously victims of something that has caused them to become bitter and cynical. We should have compassion on them and, when appropriate, reach out to see if we can lift them out of their doldrums and into the sunshine - but that probably isn't right now for you. If you're just now getting a grip onto the side of the lifeboat - don't try to grab the person who wants to drown. After you're securely in the boat, then you can throw them the rope and try to convince them that its worth grabbing. For now, just let them be who they are and not give them any power over your resolve to pursue God's DREAM for your life.
TIP: If you need help getting started you can pretend to be someone specific that has a tendency to be negative. A nagging in-law, a cranky co-worker, horrible neighbor, or whoever it is that you can always count on to have nothing nice to say. You can hear their voice right now in your head, can't you?
Start writing.
In real life that person sucks! No one likes them. No one wants to be around them. No one wants to invite them to the party because they might actually come! You know who they are and you're already picturing them in your mind's eye, aren't you? They are the pessimists. The critics. The "I'm-only-telling-you-because-I-love-you" people. They believe they're doing everyone a favor by being "honest." Well, they aren't helping everyone, they're just dragging everyone down to their level of misery. They are everywhere. They are obnoxious. They are waiting to pounce on your DREAM like sharks smelling blood in the water.
They are also very predictable. Pessimists cannot stand it when someone decides to take ownership and action and move forward in life. We could spend hours and hours trying to dissect their complex psychological make-up in an attempt to discover what it is that drives them to tear everything down, and we'll still not figure them out (and if we did, they'd just say we were wrong!). There's an old adage that says, "forewarned is fore-armed." Basically it means that for you, since you know they're going to try to kill your enthusiasm as you pursue God's DREAM, you can anticipate their attacks and be ready for them.
You really shouldn't be surprised when they think pursuing God's DREAM is silly or pointless. You shouldn't be caught-off-guard when they highlight all the ways your DREAM is stupid or foolish or selfish. When they "do you the favor" of being "honest and real" just smile, thank them for their concern, and as soon as possible forget everything they said to you! Pessimists have nothing of value to say because they aren't really looking for ways to help, they're looking for ways to keep everyone else living in the same cess-pool of misery and negativity that they've resigned themselves to.
Let's be fair to the pessimists - I'm not advocating for you to be mean to them in any way. It's a general rule that hurt-people hurt people (reread that slowly until you get it). They are obviously victims of something that has caused them to become bitter and cynical. We should have compassion on them and, when appropriate, reach out to see if we can lift them out of their doldrums and into the sunshine - but that probably isn't right now for you. If you're just now getting a grip onto the side of the lifeboat - don't try to grab the person who wants to drown. After you're securely in the boat, then you can throw them the rope and try to convince them that its worth grabbing. For now, just let them be who they are and not give them any power over your resolve to pursue God's DREAM for your life.
"Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad" (Psalm 105.3).
ACTION STEP
For today's ACTION STEP you get to act like a real jerk! Look for the weaknesses in your DREAM and point them out; try to shoot holes in the whole thing. Don't back off, and don't be nice. You can count on the critics around you to be brutal, so get used to it. Besides, you know you've already given some of these thoughts room to hang out inside, haven't you?
Write down all the negative things you can think of about your DREAM.
Start writing.
Tomorrow we'll take a look at the other side of this coin.
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