Optimism and Half-Oranges
When I was ready to start dating after the divorce, a friend of mine suggested I read the book - Meeting Your Half-Orange: An Utterly Upbeat Guide to Using Dating Optimism to Find Your Perfect Match. Woof. Say that three times fast! She swore that after she read this book she immediately met her husband. As you can imagine, I was pretty skeptical about the whole thing. Coming off a divorce isn’t really the easiest or best time to be optimistic about finding love.
I marched myself to the bookstore. Seriously. A legit bookstore. Amazon wasn’t really a big thing back then. I stood in the self-help section and thought long and hard about buying a book about finding my perfect match.
Fast forward a few years. My dating history has been a little suspect. I truly feel like everyone I’ve dated and met along the way was all part of my big journey. Fine. I’ll admit it. I didn’t actually finish the book. So hopefully you didn’t read this far looking for a book review of a book that came out eight years ago. So why write about half-oranges now? Because being optimistic and putting positive vibes out into the universe is 100% relevant to where my life is at.
Being a positive, grateful person takes work and practice. Gratitude is a feeling. By putting those feelings out into the universe, you open yourself up to other positive experiences. On my night stand there is gratitude journal. Every night I jot down something that I’m grateful for. Don’t get me wrong - sometimes writing in that damn book is hard and some nights my journal entries look like this:
Today I’m grateful for air.
Today I’m grateful that I didn’t punch anyone in the face.
Hey – you have to start somewhere, right? No one can become a Pollyanna overnight.
Smiling is a great way to express gratitude!
I’ve also been writing down my dreams, what I really want out of life and my half-orange. There is a lot to think about when you find that person. What if the timing isn’t right? What if they are on the other side of the world? Will it all work out? Instead of letting it consume my thoughts, I’m going to be optimistic, keep picturing the life I want and wait for the universe to work its magic.
Oh – just in case you were wondering where half-orange came from. It’s a cute Spanish expression, “mi media naranja” which means one’s sweetheart or one’s beautifully perfect other half. Apparently author Amy Spencer married a guy from Argentina who taught her the phrase. Awwww.
