The King's Lesson on Positivity

There's an old parable about a king and his closest friend.

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The friend had a habit that drove people crazy. No matter what happened, good or bad, he would say the same thing: "This is good. This happened for a reason."

One day on a hunting trip, the king's gun misfired and blew off his thumb. His friend looked at the wound, helped him through it, and said what he always said. "This is good, my friend. Everything happens for a reason."

The king had finally had enough. He threw his friend in jail.

Months later, the king wandered into dangerous territory and was captured by cannibals. They tied him to a stake, built a fire, and were about to end his life, until they noticed he was missing a thumb. Superstitious by nature, they never ate anyone who wasn't whole. They let him go.

On the way home, the king went straight to the jail to free his friend. "You were right," he said. "It was good that my thumb was blown off."

His friend smiled. "And it was good that you threw me in jail. Because if you hadn't, I would have been with you on that hunt. And I have all my fingers."

That's the thing about optimism. It's not a personality trait some people are born with. It's a discipline. A choice to believe that even in the hard moments, there is something working in your favor that you can't fully see yet.

And one of the best things you can do is make sure you have people in your life who default to this discipline. Not people who ignore reality, but people who refuse to give up on the positive side of it.

Because it will get hard. It always does. And in those moments, sometimes all you need is one person in your corner who looks at your situation and says, "This is good. Keep going."

Find that person and, most importantly, be that person for yourself and others.

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Optimism is a discipline. A choice to believe something is working in your favor that you can’t fully see yet.