I’m psyched about doing a bi-monthly column for the brand new site Purple Clover. My first piece just came out this week. It’s called “The Optimist Manifesto,” and makes the argument that optimists are the true realists, not pessimists, because we don’t take our existence for granted and see every day for what it is – a miraculous thing. We understand that optimism DOESN’T mean thinking everything’s going to be just great, or that we’re going to get exactly what we want. It means that within any given circumstances, even hard ones, there is a optimal way of moving through that causes the least suffering and the most insight. With the exception of torture or extreme pain (psychological or physical), we can always choose to make meaning of things or believe the worst, learn from experience or stomp our feet, be grateful for our lives or curse the day we were born. Those of us who’ve been in severe crisis and survived see the world through this upward-tilted lens. We can’t help it. We are the realists because we’re not walking around in a trance of darkness. Let me know what you think of the piece by leaving a comment on the Purple Clover site. I’d like to hear from you!