.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
Being Optimistic
by Father Martin Maunsell
Now, living in Brighton Le Sands, I have a variety of places where I can choose to have a morning coffee. Sometimes, while I’m patiently waiting at one venue, I watch in admiration how a young barista handles so calmly and competently requests like: “a chai latte that is extra hot or with half almond milk or half oat milk or one pump of vanilla or no foam on top.”
I recently commended this girl for her competence and patience in handling so well all of these multiple requests, and she immediately said to me, “Yesterday Anthony came in; he is a 78-year-old man who recently had his wife die, and he said that the way you look after my requests just makes my day. When he said this, he made me feel so valued.”
Moments like this remind me that the small things we consistently do for others are not so small at all, as they so often fill an emotional vacuum. Gratitude does not come easily these days, especially when so many people are multitasking or their heads are constantly down-scrolling through their electronic devices.
Optimism is not about pretending that everything is fine around us when so often they are not yet. Optimism is about acknowledging those small, constant things happening around us that are life-giving.
Jesus of Nazareth makes the point: “whatever you wish others would do to you, do also to them.”
(John Chapter 7, verse 12)
Read More on Christian Optimism
Read More on Gratitude and Optimism
Self-Improvement • Mental Health • 38 episodes
That Optimism Man Victor Perton
Latest episode
Alix Bradfield on Living Well with Optimism in Your Eighties and Beyond
The Unapologetic Optimist Julian Mather: Own Up. Wise Up. Step Up.
The Artist Rich Wilkie on Optimism as an Antidote to Pessimism and Depression
The Climate Optimist Meets That Optimism Man: Anne Therese Gennari in Conversation
More episodes
.png)
.png)
.png)
Keep up to date with the latest from Centre for Optimism
We appreciate any contribution you can make to help us spread optimism with the world
.svg)
.svg)
