Be Optimistic?

optimism |ˈäptəˌmizəm|
noun
1 hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something : the talks had been amicable, and there were grounds for optimism.
2 Philosophy the doctrine, esp. as set forth by Leibniz, that this world is the best of all possible worlds.*
• the belief that good must ultimately prevail over evil in the universe.
© 2009 New Oxford American Dictionary

*If this is the best of possible worlds... then does that mean it won't get any better? Almost sounds like pessimism - the opposite. Or is it?

à la Wikipedia:
...A number of scholars have suggested that, although optimism and pessimism might seem like opposites, in psychological terms they do not function in this way. Having more of one does not mean you have less of the other. The factors that reduce one do not necessarily increase the other. On many occasions in life we need both in equal supply. Antonio Gramsci famously called for "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will": the one the spur to action, the other the resilience to believe that such action will result in meaningful change even in the face of adversity.

Hope can become a force for social change when it combines optimism and pessimism in healthy proportions.*

*So the Wikipedia entry writer says, so it is. Right?
(I like how he or she stuck her own philosophies about hope in there. I dig it though.)
Hope as a force for social change... hmm.

Consider Radiohead:



Apart from this being a good damn song (and I'm nobody's Radiohead fan) it's an interesting comment on optimism. If you try the best you can...meanwhile, just where are those dinosaurs lately? And how would they feel about Leibniz's ideas about this being the "best possible world?" Hmm...

***

So, as I study for the bar exam, I'm also studying myself, and just how my thoughts shape my world. Your focus shapes your reality... but why? And how? I've been coming up with lots of answers... which have lead to more questions, but the one thing that seems to be key to like, everything, is the understanding that my (our) subconscious can make you or break you. One day, I dug around my subconscious in regard to one particular question and, amazingly, the digging around unearthed this song as the answer:



So yes, be optimistic. Never say die.

Limitless.

There are days when I doubt myself. I think about all the things I wanna do with my life and then I hear "What? I'm not gonna do all that!"

I hate that voice. The You-Can't Voice. I hate the limits that it once has and still potentially could put on my life.

This morning, I accepted that this voice is a part of who I am, take it or leave it. I also accepted that fighting the YCV only gives the YCV strength - paying any attention to the YCV makes the things it says more likely to come true (in adherence with the law of attraction). The only way to truly reject Ms. YCV is to respect her existence, and shift my focus on my achieving my goals (like I would any other hater).

As soon as this happened, I checked my email inbox and saw my DailyOM horoscope for the day. I'd strongly suggest clicking the link (especially if you're a Taurus!) but in case you don't, the gist of the message was that today was a day where I might feel limitless in respect to my goals. Talk about being ON-POINT!

Limitless. Is it really possible to live a life without limit? I'm in the legal profession so not only do I know this isn't true - I have an understanding on just how some of those limits work. So then, it's not possible to live a live without ANY limit. But what about living a life with no limit to the greatness you can achieve?

I don't know the answer to that yet, but I intend to live my life trying to find the answer.

Limitless. I think I might add this to the list of my favorite words. Another one of my favorite words is:

ne plus ultra
Pronunciation: \ˌnā-ˌpləs-ˈəl-trə, ˌnē-\
Function:noun
Etymology: New Latin, (go) no more beyond
Date:1637
1 : the highest point capable of being attained : acme
2 : the most profound degree of a quality or state
© 2008 Merriam Webster Online

So technically it's not a word - more like a phrase - but when I saw this entry as my Merriam Webster Word of the Day back in June 2005 (God bless my memory) it automatically clicked with me. I remember that day I had been thinking about whether I had been living to my fullest potential and then saw the entry above. It clicked because the word/phrase means "the highest point capable of being attained" yet there's this back story (i.e., its etymology) that serves to remind that going to the highest point capable implies that there is a limit involved. At the time I had issues with going after my goals while respecting my natural God given limits - like for example, with time and sleep. Sleep is so important to success - learned that the hard way - and it's not worth sacrificing for an extra hour to get something done.

To live to my fullest potential, I HAVE to respect certain limits. Since 2005 I've learned to do this but now is the time for me to think and act and believe that what I can and will achieve is limitless. Is it possible to live limitlessly but within limits?

I'll have to get back to you on that.

One thing I do know is that the universe conspires to support me. Last night I needed to be reminded of this and lo and behold - I got the reminder via Twitter. The writer of this blog started following me right around the time I needed to remember this - and I just happened to be checking my email when Twitter sent me the notification. And so I checked his Twitter and his blog and what was his latest post called? The universe conspires to support you. I suggest you read his blog - it discusses the law of attraction really well - but if you don't, just understand that being open to the support of the universe is key to the support the universe will provide. Or in the words of a mullah that my friend heard during the Eid prayer:

God speaks to us, but our hearts need to be clear to hear it.

So I've been working on clearing my heart. Did a little bit just now by writing this - which I started because Ms. YCV started up her blathering as I watched Stylista and had a thought about something I would love to do. I hope your heart is clear enough to hear Him speaking to you.

On Tricianess.

Welcome!

While this is the first posting in this blog, this is by no means my first blog post. You are reading what I intend to be the continuation of two blog ventures I've had going for awhile now: Tricia writes... and Tricia says. How I even got to writing two separate blogs is a long story (some of which you can read here and here, if you like) but basically: one blog was dedicated to my passion for writing, and the other blog was dedicated to my passion for everything else, including my legal career. I was treating my legal and literary pursuits as two separate parts of my life and having two separate blogs was merely a reflection of this. It dawned on me late last night that this was the wrong way to go about pursuing my dreams. While they don't have much to do with one another, both my pursuits are MINE, and I'm only one person. I don't lead a double life - I don't have a split personality - I'm me, singularly. So why should I be pursuing my dreams like they belong to separate lives? I believe the best way to go after my dreams is to approach them in a way that respects each pursuit as just an integral part of the whole "Tricianess."

What is Tricianess?

So the one thing that my literary and legal pursuits have in common is my passion for words. I love them so much that I read dictionaries for fun. While browsing through a dictionary one day I came across this definition:

-ness |nəs; nis|
forming nouns chiefly from adjectives: suffix
1 denoting a state or condition : liveliness | sadness.
© 2008 New Oxford American Dictionary.

While -ness is typically attached to adjectives, I thought, "Why not attach it to my name when speaking/thinking of my state or condition?" (Something only a logophile would probably think!) And there you have it. Tricianess.

So if you visit this blog, expect to read something or the other about the state or condition of being Tricia. There will be some poetry, some prose, some ramblings and other kinds of expositions about whatever's on my mind. Right about now, the major thing on my mind is passing the bar exam in February. There's some other stuff going on too. I have like two good pieces formulating. Hopefully I'll get one out by tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.