The life of an optimist is on the right course. Follow an optimist to change the course of your life. A cheerful optimistic temperament is worth everything from the beginning of life. A cheerful man who always feels his best, who always looks on the bright side, who is ever ready to snatch victory from defeat, is the successful man.

Everybody avoids the company of those who are always grumbling, who are full of "ifs" and "buts," and "I told you so's." We like the man who always looks toward the sun, whether it shines or not. It is the cheerful, hopeful man we go to for sympathy and assistance; not the carping, gloomy critic who always thinks it is going to rain, and that we are going to have a terribly hot summer, or a severe thunderstorm, or who is forever complaining of hard times and his hard lot.

It is the bright, cheerful, hopeful, contented man who makes his way, who is respected and admired. Gloom and depression not only take much out of life, but detract greatly from the chances of winning success. It is the bright and cheerful spirit that wins the final triumph.

We can change the course of our life by how we define events. If we can realize that the positive events in our life are because of something we did and a sign of more good things to come and are evidence that good things will happen in other areas of our life, we are halfway there. An optimist also thinks negative events are not their fault and are isolated occurrences that have no bearing on future events or other areas of their life.

We can change the course of our life by becoming optimistic. We can handle stress better, accomplish more, and improve our health. Optimists seem to always have a smile on their face. They think and speak positively. Difficult times are seen as character builders by optimists. After a bad day, optimists think that tomorrow will probably be better.

Actress Jenny McCarthy in the magazine positive thinking reveals how she is taking a pro-active approach to her son's diagnosis of autism.* Jenny is wise beyond her years in that she knows that in accepting the negative emotions that she has about her son's future, they will have no power over her thinking. By maintaining an optimistic attitude, Jenny will be able to change the course of her son's life!

The Secret DVD portrays optimists as people who always see the brighter side of things. As a result, they feel that they experience more positive events in their life than others do. This is not their imagination.

Obviously, Donald Trump has to be an optimist. He continues to believe in marriage even though he has been married more than twice. He has changed the course of his business losses into great gains many times. Donald Trump is continually stretching his personal growth as he branches into television and other ventures. Persistence is another trait of an optimist.

Martin Speligman is one researcher who has been studying optimists and pessimists for years. He and others have found that an optimistic world view carries certain advantages. They found that optimists had superior health, greater achievement, particularly among sports teams and individual swimmers; emotional health without drug therapy, increased longevity, better outcomes in cancer treatment patients and less stress. This research definitely shows that a pessimist can change the course of his life by becoming an optimist; in other words, by changing his stinkin' thinkin'!