How To Be Optimistic

Scientific research has come up with a long list of benefits to being optimistic. Here are just a few:

• Optimism is associated with better health and a longer life.
• Research has shown that practicing optimism and gratitude causes (not just correlates with) an increase in happiness.
• The army teaches soldiers to be optimistic because it makes them tougher and more persistent.
• Being socially optimistic — expecting people to like you — makes people like you more.
• Expecting a positive outcome from negotiations made groups more likely to come to a deal and to be happy with it.
• Optimists are luckier. Research shows by thinking positive they persevere and create more opportunities for themselves.
• Optimistic salespeople are more successful.

Click here for Eric Barker's excellent column.

A Heavenly Aroma

A Heavenly Aroma
By Michelle Medlock Adams

God thinks of us as a perfume that brings Christ to everyone. For people who are being saved, this perfume has a sweet smell and leads them to a better life. (Second Corinthians 2:15-16)

She breezed in and sat down in front of me at an Indiana University basketball game on that cold February night. She was an older woman, dressed in a navy business suit, with a red and white scarf tied stylishly around her neck.

Her silver hair was neatly tucked behind her ears in a classic bob–sort of like Doris Day–and her lipstick was a perfect IU crimson.

I would have guessed her to be in her early 60s...probably an IU professor. As she settled into her seat, a wonderful aroma filled the air. In fact, it broke through the smells of stale popcorn and overcooked hot dogs and filled my nostrils. I inhaled deeply and said, “Mmmm.”

“Do you smell that?” I whispered to my mother.

“Yes, it’s marvelous,” she answered.

There was no doubt. The wonderful aroma had wafted in with the classy lady in front of us. As the halftime buzzer sounded, I leaned forward and tapped the woman on her shoulder. I just had to know.

“Excuse me, Ma’am, you smell so wonderful...could you tell me what you’re wearing?”

“Thank you,” she said. “It’s called Krizia.”

I shared the information with my mother, and we both made a mental note to buy Krizia as our next perfume purchase. I wanted to smell just like the classy lady with the silver hair. I wanted that wonderful scent to become my "signature fragrance."

You know, the Bible says we are the aroma of Christ. When we enter a room, we should carry his fragrance with us. His aroma should be so pleasing on us that people will tap us on the shoulder and ask what we’re “wearing.”

With that opening, we can share Jesus Christ with every person who notices our Christ-like aroma.

Maybe your fragrance smells more like those overcooked weenies or the stale popcorn. If so, you just need a “smell makeover.” Ask God to replace your human smell with his divine fragrance, so that you will be a witness of his sweetness everywhere you go.

Ask the Lord to fill you up with his fragrant love so that it enters the room even before you do. He will. He doesn’t want his children to go around smelling stinky. After all, we are the aroma of Christ, and that’s even better than Krizia.

“Father, thank you for loving me, and thank you for filling me up with your love so that my signature fragrance becomes just like yours. I praise you, God, for providing openings that I might be able to share you and your love with others who cross my path. In the Mighty Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Posted originally on guideposts.org

10 Sure Signs You're in the Right Job

10 Sure Signs You're in the Right Job
By Peter Economy @bizzwriter

There are few things better in life than knowing you're in the right job or career--and few things worse than being stuck in the wrong one. Here's how to assess your current situation.

Click here to read the column.