Positive thinking

My husband, Tim, is a marriage and family therapist. He works for our county full time, supervising an adult outpatient clinic, and holds down a second job, his private counseling practice, after-hours. He often comes home from work with lecture schedules and handouts and book titles -- and lots of neato pens from the ever-present pharmaceutical reps who treat him, and his peers, to lunch several times a week!

Sometimes, despite being a psychologically minded chick myself (I was a psych major, in fact, at UCLA), I roll my eyes at this endless parade of hippy-drippy, self-help stuff. But more often than not, there's real truth beneath the "fluff"; real wisdom that truly resonates and can improve lives.

This excerpt, below, is from the latter category:

TRAITS OF TOUGH-MINDED OPTIMISTS

1. Are seldom surprised by trouble
2. Look for partial solutions
3. Believe they have control over their future
4. Allow for regular renewal
5. Interrupt their negative trains of thought
6. Heighten their powers of appreciation
7. Use their imagination to rehearse success
8. Are cheerful even when they can't be happy
9. Think they have an almost unlimited capacity for stretching
10. Build lots of love into their lives
11. Like to swap good news
12. Accept what cannot be changed