The Power of Attitude, 4:
View from the Top
Featuring
Dr. John Townsend
Psychologist
Best-selling co-author of Boundaries series,
author of How People Grow
Visit CTR on the web at www.cloudtownsend.com
CTR
Solutions: The Power of Attitude, 4—View from the Top
Page 2
Think about your last year. Do you look at it from an optimistic level or a pessimistic level?
I. Optimism vs. pessimism
You need hope for things—reality has to come second
Truth before grace makes for a long lunch
What optimists and pessimists really are:
An optimist has hope without reality
A pessimist has reality without hope
What’s healthiest is to integrate them
Where hope comes from:
- From experiences where there’s hope
From having had enough love and support
If you lose hope quickly, develop hopeful experiences with people who care about
you
- From the amount of freedom you have
Knowing you have power and choices and can get yourself out of a jam
People who feel trapped become pessimistic
- From how you’ve experienced failure
Failure will happen: make it your friend
People who have been judged for failure become pessimists
Make your failure relational: you must not fail alone
Get your failures met with love
Visit CTR on the web at www.cloudtownsend.com
CTR
Page 3
Solutions: The Power of Attitude, 4—View from the Top
II. How to get the best of both worlds
3
If you tend to hopelessness, you may need comfort
Comfort is empathy for someone else’s pain
Meet someone where they’re down
Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies and God of all comfort, 4who
comforts us in all our affliction, so that
we may be able to comfort those who
are in any affliction, with the comfort
with which we ourselves are comforted
by God.
—2 Corinthians 3-4
- This brings hope
- It may take time
The optimist without reality needs reality
For the despairing man there should
be kindness from his friend; so that he
does not forsake the fear of the
Almighty.
—Job 6:14
They need reality without losing hope \
The optimist is too idealistic but keeps trying
What helps the optimist: Learning that reality can be their friend
Becoming accountable to reality
Reality makes life better
The spiritual component: Co-laborship with God
You’re not by yourself
Work out your salvation with fear
and trembling; for it is God who is
at work in you, both to will and to
work for His good pleasure.
—Philippians 2:12-13
Visit CTR on the web at www.cloudtownsend.com
CTR
Solutions: The Power of Attitude, 4—View from the Top
Resources
It’s Not My Fault!
by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend
www.cloudtownsend.com
How People Grow: What the Bible
Reveals about Personal Growth
by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend
www.cloudtownsend.com
Ultimate Leadership Workshop
www.cloudtownsend.com
Contact Information
Cloud-Townsend Resources
18092 Sky Park South Suite A
Irvine, California 92614
Phone: 800-676-4673
Web: www.cloudtownsend.com
Visit CTR on the web at www.cloudtownsend.com
Page 4