Forget Idealism! Embrace Realistic Optimism!

Idealism can get in the way of living an exceptional life.  It has struck me that the most disillusioned people I have met were the ones who based their choices on a romantic and idealistic view of the world.  Each decision was approached with such good intentions and great hopes.  This was going to be the best marriage, the best friend, the best job, the best child and the best experience ever.  The idealist starts out so high and then falls so far.

The MORE Philosophy is a way of living that creates movement, utilizes opportunities and pays attention to the reality checks so that a truly exceptional life can be lived.  Although I encourage a positive outlook on life, there are reality checks that need to be accepted if you are interested in living a truly exceptional life.  In order to deal with reality and live by the MORE philosophy we need to be disillusioned from our idealistic dreams and superficial desires so that we can sink our teeth into the real world where we can experience real satisfaction. Reality checks ground us in our life, but we do not want to become hardened, pessimistic and disillusioned. It is only within the real world that we can experience real satisfaction.  There will be things we need to compromise on, but rather than suffer from guilt and disappointment the best compromise it to let the idealism go with as much grace as possible and move towards “realistic optimism”.

Realistic Optimism is based in reality, but still encourages positive growth and movement.  I coined the phrase “realistic optimism” because optimism still moves us forward and provides positive options, but reality gives us the direction and information needed to achieve our goals.  When operating from the reality check of MORE, we can feel disappointment and sadness but we still hold onto a positive vision, a “diamond in the mind” that we work towards.  The MORE philosophy asks the individual to have a certain level of trust in the bigger picture.  If you open up to the possibilities then life will move you towards the diamond, although it may not always look the way you had hoped or anticipated.