On Saturday, June 15th (National Smiles Day) Contagious Optimism was officially “released” by Viva Editions.  I am proud to be listed as 1 of 100+ “co-authors” in this 1st volume and I urge you to not just buy/read the book, but to contemplate the message being delivered and consider the very slight change in focus being advocated.

Some of you may think you have heard it all before, from Pollyanna’s “Glad Game” to Norman Vincent Peale to Natalie Wood’s 34th street lament “it’s like, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again…I thought so!”…but as they say “lemme splain”

Those of you who know me should that my career and my record as a capitalist are not shining examples of optimistic fortitude.  In fact my life’s saga does little to support the notion the notion that all you have to do is “keep thinkin those good thoughts”.  St Robert Of the Hoops (Bobby Knight) has published a work on the power of negative thinking, surely this is a tune I would be more apt to sing.

It came as quite a surprise to me, when I was invited to help make optimism contagious, but after some contemplation I ended up submitting 4 stories.  These were not tales of fortune favoring those that believe.  Rather I submitted essays of how a differing perspective can lead us out of the bleakest of circumstances, of how finding the value in what we have is far more productive than using what we don’t have as an excuse for straying off destiny’s path.

The 1st of my 4 submissions can be found in Volume one, and if (rather WHEN) all goes well the others will appear in future volumes.

On June 25th at 7:00 pm I will be at Changing Hands Bookstore  in Tempe, AZ offering my perspective, signing copies and giving away some really cool “Got Optimism” totes. (a hit at the Southwest Book Fiesta)