Hope and joy.

January 31, 2021

Do you ever wonder why we believe what we believe? I saw this beautiful truth posted online last week and it struck a chord.

We will always find evidence for what we choose to believe.

There’s actually a scientific name for this truth. Scientists have studied this fact for many years. I suppose to make sure their studies are not affected by it.

It’s called Confirmation Bias.

I have a friend, the therapist again, who often refers to me as Pollyanna. We joke that I have Pollyanna Syndrome. To be honest, I’ve been called Pollyanna for most of my life. I believe our thoughts are the one thing (maybe the only thing) we control.

Did you know Pollyanna was a very popular Children’s book written in 1913? It’s about this little girl who has to go live with her really stern Aunt in a dreary town after her parents die and instead of being sad, she plays The Glad Game. She sees the good in everything that comes her way . Maybe that was the early beginning of the power of positive thinking movement.

I believe this world of ours and the people in it are basically beautiful and good.

So, am I just playing The Glad Game? Am I constantly looking for evidence that the world is full of beauty and astonishment and the people in it are good and trustworthy? I have a friend, who believes HUMANS SUCK. And he finds evidence for that fact everywhere.

Hmmmm.

I did some research on this topic and found an interesting article on why positive thinking might be bad for us. The concept of “making lemons out of lemonade” is a lot of pressure according to the guy who wrote this article. He suggests as an alternative that we work hard at not labeling things BAD or GOOD. Everything, he offers, is neutral.

Well, that’s not truth in my humble opinion.

The other day, I wrote about spotting letters that spelled JOY. Someone had tossed them to the side of the road. Well, that same week when I was walking with my friend, we saw it again; a different set of letters, these were red, again spelling JOY. They were leaning against the side of someone’s house.

Then, then -- GET THIS!?! I subscribe to Notes from the Universe, and I got this:

Robbin, each challenge adds to the suspense, adds to the mystery, adds to the chaos, adds to the possibilities, adds to the romance, adds to the adventure, adds to the joy. 

And I say anything that adds to the joy should be embraced. 

 Cool? 

  The Universe

Is it just me, or do you see a common thread?

Maybe signs from the Universe are real? And even actual signs sometimes.

Last night, I had dinner with some friends that live on the other side of town, so I brought my PJs and we made it a sleep over. This morning on the long drive back home, I listened to an NPR show called To the Best of Our Knowledge. They were doing a show entirely about HOPE. You can listen to it here. And you should.

Well, I heard this set of words on that show:

HOPE = JOY for the future.

Again, JOY.

That word is following me everywhere!

So, I’ll just wrap up this very rambling set of words by saying...

Joy is everywhere.

Have you noticed? If not, go out looking for evidence for me today.

OX, Robbin