A few months back, my wife shared with me this classic tale. In my own words, this is the story of the Optimist and the Pessimist, followed by a reflection:
Once a mother gave birth to twin boys. Though the boys were identical in appearance, their personalities were as different as night and day. When one was too cold, the other was warm. When one was hungry, the other was full. Opposite in every way, one was an extreme optimist, the other a gloomy pessimist.
On the twins’ birthday their parents decided to follow the advice of their doctor. They filled the pessimist twin’s room with every toy imaginable. The optimist twin’s room they piled high with manure.
That night the parents passed by the twin’s rooms. They heard the pessimist crying aloud.
“Why are you crying?” the mother asked.
“I have all the toys in the world but I can’t play with any of them. They might break and get ruined. I might lose some of them. I’ll have to read all these instructions before I can even play with them anyway. It will be too much reading and I will be too tired to play once I have finished.”
As they passed the optimist twin’s room, the saw him dancing for joy as he dug through the pile of manure. “Why are you so happy?” asked the twin’s father.
The optimist twin giggled, “You can’t fool me! With all of this manure, there has to be a pony in here somewhere!”
Often times I live as the Pessimist, always finding some cause for diversion from the acceptance of the many gifts in my life. I become engulfed in fear and shackled by a self-inflicted worry. In a room filled with tools to bring me great joy and happiness I stand paralyzed, unable to act through my anxiety.
Now I am reminded: in the worst of times, when everything seems to be fighting against us and the weight of the world is on our shoulders, a reason to be joyous always exists. Sometimes it can be through simplicity. Instead of recognizing all the negatives (my life is hard, my life is stressful, my life is overwhelming, my life is depressing, etc.) I find optimism in simplicity. My life IS! And how blessed am I to have life. Fresh mountain air and smiling babies, the warmth of a woman and of the sunshine, unexpected laughter and expecting life!
Where, in the midst of your manure-filled room, will you find your pony today?
Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go 