YOUNG IS A CONDITION WE CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT; YOUTH IS A QUALITY TO MAINTAIN ALL YOUR LIFE.
- Frank Lloyd Wright

REDISCOVERING POLLYANNA

The power of positive thinking has in itself a youthful quality of hope and delight. Are you one of those people who are embarrassed by positive upbeat words? Do you wish you were like those crotchety SOBs who always find something negative to say? Are you sure that fault finding is the way to win? If you answer "yes" to even one of these questions then you will hate the rest of this - whatever I call it - editorial, opinion, article.

It takes a real pro to know what's right about something - a speech, a film, a work of art - while every amateur has something facile and negative to say. Only someone who really knows can hone in on the details of what is RIGHT.

Great coaches, consultants, and teachers can extend or expand on what you do that is successful; beware I say, of people who are always criticizing and finding fault.

As I count the days until the New Year - I have been thinking about all the wonderful things that haven't changed for the worse. Youth, like the professionals, sees the world in a burst of light. I often think how lucky we are to live in a world with Pepperidge Farm Cookies. And other things haven't gone sour - like brunch on Sunday at IL Fornaio, or a well-aged Rib Eye Steak , and real Bermuda Onions. Thinking positively and youthfully I cheer for Rice Krispies and Corn Flakes, Larry King, an all- night game of Monopoly, the Yankees, the Connaught Hotel in London, Big Sur, The Oxford English Dictionary, Manolo Blanik shoes, a sale at Barneys, the Macintosh technology, Wool covert cloth, Ellis Island, a London Taxi, the fashion museum at the back of the Louvre, a book by John Ciardi, the Guggenheim Museum and The Whitney in New York, the Phillips in D.C., and the Art Institute of Chicago

Some of my friends got into the spirit of expressing the positive over dinner at an exceptional restaurant here in DelMar, "Pemplemousse" on Villa de la Valle.

Among the treasures of our world that, in their opinions, haven't been ruined are Morgan Sports Cars, Patagonia, Spetses (an exceptional Greek Island), Umbria not Tuscany, North Haven Island in Maine, Rancho Santa Fe, where I live, the game of Rugby, and someone said Savings Bonds - the U.S. kind. How about Gold and the Swiss franc said an accountant friend, while another praised the Harvard-Yale game. I offered the observation that Chianti Classico wines are still worthy and someone countered with praise of Port and a Cigar - and before anyone could interrupt, he said, don't forget Guiness Stout. And then Martha's Vineyard was praised, as was Nevis in the British West Indies, and then I remembered I'd left out the Frick Gallery in New York City still unchanged and still glorious. A writer among us said that Ticonderoga #2 pencils remain great and we were still going strong when dessert was done.

Somehow we shifted moods and agreed that evening newspapers and Television News are ruined as are Rome and Venice in the summer. We stopped when someone said that commercial tomatoes were disgusting and other produce was becoming tasteless - we wanted to hang onto a soaring feeling that we had gotten from positive talk and potent wines - what a mix!

The best part of the evening was while we concentrated on things, places, and experiences still worth being called wonderful. I suggest you do the same at your holiday parties and over dinner. You'll be surprised when someone comes up with a remembrance of the unspoiled perfection of climbing the Dolomites in northern Italy or mentions the wonder of the John Soane House in London. People, when encouraged, have many positive things to remember and to say - even about their families. I suggest that we offer opportunities to share those upbeat memories and I agree that it is much more fashionable to find fault. Perhaps we can courageously start a rebirth of positive thinking.

In my opinion, true youth is determined by the attitude and not by the scale. Sure, go for great non-fattening food and keep up your routine of good exercise but don't overlook the positives expressed aloud among friends and family. Emotional fitness is dependent on expressing positive thoughts; I warn that you will grow old if you let your Pollyanna muscles sag.

And a few other thoughts...

"Smile, it's the second best thing to do with your lips."

"Turning a company around doesn't mean going in circles."

"To laugh, even when it hurts - that's courage."