Making Peace with Pessimism

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During the holidays, I put pressure on myself to be happy and grateful for all that I have and all that I share with my loved ones. I long to step up to the plate of seasonal joy but don’t always make the mark with my natural tendency to pessimism.

Many, though not all, of us living here in Canada have so much. I have everything I need and most of what I want — a warm house, abundant food, beloved friends and family and the incredible good fortune to be Canadian.

I do feel a strong pull to live in happiness and gratitude. No, it’s more than that. I believe I have a responsibility to live in gratitude because I have so much compared to others here at home and around the world.

And yet I often feel sorrow and regret, anxiety and worry, about big and sometimes very small things. The big things: a friend struggling with cancer; our planet in deep trouble; and concern for my adult children. And the smaller things: my knees giving out and wondering what life holds for me as I round the corner into my 60s.

I’ve been learning how to make peace with this seeming conflict between the positive and the negative like hope and despair. Can I be optimistic on the whole, embrace what is good, while honouring my pessimism?

To read the rest of this, go to the Whig Standard … https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/making-peace-with-pessimism  

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