Would you rather never stumble on earth, or stumble repeatedly on the moon?

By: Jackie Monroe

Even those who have established that "the sky is NOT the limit" can suffer trials and get knocked down. Check it out:

There's a lesson for all optimists here: The difference in gravity on the moon was enough to send astronauts toppling over at times. The same thing happens to us when the "forces" of life send us reeling and cause us to lose our balance. The act of optimism comes from rising after each fall and having the courage to keep going! 

Optimism in the Face of Blindness: An Inspirational Story

Listen to this inspirational story of optimism about how a woman who goes blind, never gives up, and defies the belief that to be a visual artist you have to see!  

Jackie Monroe and Dr. Russ are back with their new Friday feature, the weekly Podcast of Optimism! 

This week, Jackie shares with Dr. Russ the story of a mid-Michigan woman and business owner who, in the face of losing her vision, decided to hold on to her business and capitalize on her love for learning. This inspiring woman learned to navigate the business world as a blind person and has successfully been able to grow her business as well as maintain an active, independent quality of life. 

Truly an inspirational story of how embracing change with an optimistic outlook can lead to....

Click here to listen to our second Podcast of Optimism!

Like this podcast?  Then take it with you by downloading to your mp3 player.  Listen and learn from it over and over while "On the Go."

Fail Again, Try Again - But for How Long?

By Dr. Russ

Try Again, Fail Again

How many times are you willing to fail before succeeding?  I have become a fan of the quote, “You do not fail until you stop trying” --Anonymous.  Are you willing to fail 2, 10, 50 or 100 times? How about over 900 times?

Meet Cha Sa-soon, a 69 year old grandmother, now known nationally in South Korea as Grandma Cha-Sa-soon, who lives alone in a one room house in Sinchon, a mountain ringed village 112 miles south of Seoul.  She failed her written driver’s license test 959 times before succeeding on the 960^th trial.

Never Learned to Read

In 2005, with her four children grown and out of the house and recently widowed, she decided she wanted to get her driver’s license so she could take her grandchildren to the Zoo.  The problem was that she had never learned to read.

She grew up in a peasant family of seven children and went to work as a child in the fields.  Her only schooling was an informal night school until age 15 when she entered the formal school at the 4^th grade for a few years. There are three fundamental skills one must master in order to read fluently: 1) sounding out words with phonics skills, 2) knowing the meaning of words once deciphered phonetically, and 3) comprehension of longer, multi-paragraph text material.

An Unorthodox Approach to Studying

Cha had mastered the phonetics of sounding out a word, but  due to her lack of formal education did not know what certain words meant such as ‘regulations’ and ‘emergency lights’.  Her approach to studying was to try to memorize the sample questions and answers that went with them so if that question appeared on the test she would know the answer.  As a driver’s license agency representative pointed out, “It’s not an easy way to pass the test that way.”

Failing 5 Days a Week for Three Years

She started taking the test 5 days a week in 2005 and after three years of continuous failure reduced her lengthy bus trek to the license agency to twice a week.  Because she was so pleasant and always cheerful regardless of the number of failures, the driving school teachers began to pitch in and tutor her on the meaning so some of the bigger words.

Once she passed the written test, she had a relatively easy time with the on-the road test which she only failed four times before passing it.

Work Ethic Counts

Cha may not have learned to read in school, but she did learn the value of hard work and determination through her life experience of working on a farm, selling vegetables door-to-door, and currently selling vegetables in her own stall at an open air market.

Further evidence of her “never say die work ethic:” about ten years ago she successfully completed a six month hairdresser school program by catching a 6 am bus everyday, switching to a train and then to another bus five days a week.  Problem was that at age 59, she was dubbed too old and she couldn’t find a beauty salon that would hire her.  Nevertheless, she remained her “cheerful” self, feeling “glad about” at least having completed some kind of school program.

Her son says of his mother, “If she turns her mind to something, no one can argue her out of it.”  Sheer “doggedness” is a quality held in high esteem for Koreans.  In fact Korean’s are called upon to celebrate “perseverance” as a national trait.  After she had failed over 700 times, the Korean national news began following her; and upon passing the test she received a car worth $16,800 from Hyundai Corporation.

Back to School - What Should We Teach First?

This week, millions of children return to school.  For many, learning to read is a problem due to a “learning disability” most often associated with an underdeveloped portion of the brain that is responsible for the translation of letters and word into sounds; a necessary brain function to master phonics.

Yes, the schools and teachers need to diagnose these problems and give these children the extra help they need,  but most importantly, they along with the parents need to instill that “Never give up” attitude in these children so they grow up knowing the most important ingredient in success is perseverance.  And, perseverance is a core ingredient of optimism.

"Fight Back" with Optimism for Cancer Survival: Join a "Relay for Life" Event

By Dr. Russ

Learn to “Fight Back” to Cancer with Dr. Russ Buss Optimism at a local American Cancer Society "Relay for Life" event.  The rally cry for this event is “Creating More Birthdays” which is based on the idea that every year a survivor lives, he or she has another birthday.

Throughout the country, in both small and large communities, you will find an American Cancer Society “Relay for Life” event this spring. “Relay,” as it is affectionately called, is one of the largest fund raising activities for the ACS. 

What is "Relay for Life"?  It is a twenty-four hour event in which teams of individuals come to the event staging area, often a high school stadium or public park area that has some kind of track. The teams set up a tent or two and spend the next twenty four hours participating in activities, ceremonies, fundraisers and, of course, walking the track. Someone from the team is supposed to be on the track every moment of the twenty-four hours so it helps to have lots of team members.

The final ceremony of the 24 hours occurs at the beginning of the 23rd hour, symbolically when Relayers are at their lowest, most drained point.  It is called the “Fight Back” Ceremony. 

I will be leading the “Fight Back” Ceremony in local communities near me on several occasions this spring.  Here is a glimpse of what I intend to say:

It is now the 23rd hour of the Relay. Over the last 23 hours you have found your second and even third or fourth wind.  Now you have to finish it out – one more hour – then it is over.

No! No! No!  Not so easy – now we are going to ask you to make a commitment to leave here and spend the next year fighting back to cancer, helping someone else to fight back, or recruiting others in your fight back effort so there can be MORE BIRTHDAYS!!!

It is at this most difficult hour – when we ask you to make your biggest commitment to helping and fighting.  Why?  For those of you who are survivors of the 1st kind, have been diagnosed with Cancer, you know what it was like to be at your lowest hour:  you wanted to give up -  do nothing – just let the last hour pass – so exhausted. You had to reach down inside yourself to find some strength and stamina reserves -  EVEN YOU didn’t know were there.

For those of you who are survivors of the second kind --caretakers, friends, family, or professionals--you too have experienced your lowest point: a moment when you felt helpless and hopeless – felt exhausted and burned out from caretaking – thought about “throwing in the towel.”

This twenty-third hour of relay is a metaphor for this lowest point.  And we are going to ask you to reach down inside yourself and find one more ounce of energy – we are going to ask you to call on and exert an inner drive you may not thought existed. 

By taking this metaphor personally and using this twenty third hour of relay to practice your fight back, you will be ready to leave here today and carry forward the fight for more birthdays throughout the coming year.

Jim Valvano, famous North Carolina State basketball coach, was dying of cancer when he gave his now famous speech for ESPN as they inaugurated the Jimmy V Fund for cancer research.  He was at just such a low point; body was riddled with tumors; he knew his time was limited. 

He said: “Cancer can take my body, but it cannot touch my mind, heart and soul.” 

He concluded his speech with the words: “DON’T EVER GIVE UP, DON’T EVER GIVE UP, DON’T EVER GIVE UP.”

Here we are in the symbolic darkest hour of Relay.  In a few minutes we are going to ask you to embrace the “Never Give Up” spirit of Jim Valvano and come make a “fight back” public commitment.

We are now going to ask you to make a public commitment to a "Fight Back" Action, "Fight Back" Attitude or "Fight Back" with Above and Beyond Spirit.  I call these the Triple-A’s of Fighting Back. 

We "Fight Back" with Action by driving a patient to an appointment, getting a check up, or committing to a plan to improve our lifestyle or diet; quit smoking.

We "Fight Back" with Attitude when make a joke about our appearance, quote Jim Valvano over and over to ourselves,  get a stuffed version of TAZ and put it on the night stand, and remind ourselves to focus on the CAN Controls. 

We "Fight Back" with a Above and Beyond Spirit when we make cancer a turning point for a small, medium or large positive change in life; something that goes above and beyond helping ourselves and others, one-to-one,  to making a contribution that has a larger societal impact. 

For example the Above and Beyond Spirit is shown when you join a Relay team and help raise money throughout the year, form your own Relay team for next year, volunteer with any Cancer support/fundraising organization throughout the year, run in not just one race or walk, but three or five, or just start your own approach to making more birthday’s possible for many.

Now, what are you going to do to help "Fight Back"?  Make a comment and include a commitment to doing something new for yourself, others or society at large so we CAN CELEBRATE MORE BIRTHDAYS!!!

BETTER YET GO CHECK OUT A LOCAL "RELAY FOR LIFE" EVENT.  EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF A TEAM, STOP BY FOR A FEW MINUTES AND CHECK OUT THE ENTHUSIASM.

Kim Yu-Na: Post Olympic Letdown or Inspiration?

By Dr. Russ,

I feel a letdown now that the 2010 Winter Olympics are over. 

• Every day for the last two weeks, I could think, as I was getting awake in the morning: What is on the docket today that will be exciting?  And, each day over the course of the last fortnight of February 2010, I could list with excitement - watching the Olympics on TV.  

Now it’s back to CNN and re-runs of Law and Order and Bones when I’m not tap dancing or at a networking event.  But, I realize that my let down can’t be anything like that of the athletes.

Brian Orser, trainer for South Korean Gold Medalist Kim Yu-Na said:  "There's always a letdown after the Olympics, so this is going to be a real test for her to get back up again for the World Championships.”

Here are some of the activities the athletes might be doing next:

Some will go home for a celebration:  “After celebrating together at the national training center, the athletes planned to have lunch Wednesday with President Lee Myung-bak, who called the Olympic team "a source of pride" for all South Koreans.”

Some go back and practice more: “. . .  it's back to training for Kim Yu-na, who returns to Toronto later that day to prepare for next month's World Championships in Turin, Italy.”

Some go home to a funeral: Joannie Rochette will be attending her mother’s funeral later this week.

Some go back to the job of being MOM: Six 2010 Olympic athletes will now have more time to play mom.  They are Sara Scleper, Noelle Pikus-Pace, Jenny Potter, and three members of the U.S. Women’s Curling team.

Some will go on Jay Leno:  Apolo Ohno, Lindsay Vonn, and Shaun White will pay a visit to the Tonight Show this week.

Some will go on cereal box: “General Mills Canada’s sponsorship of the Canadian Olympic Team and the 2010 Winter Games puts athletes on cereal boxes and supports their quest for Gold.”

Some will go on to "Dancing with the Stars:" Apolo Ohno already did a stint in 2007; Evan Lysacek is next up for the 2010 season.

Some will go on to retirement from international competition: Not likely to be Evan Lysacek:

• Lysacek . . . has not retired from competitive skating and will likely resume training after the May 25 finale, although his future skating plans have not been decided. “All I know is I’m not ready to say goodbye yet,” he said.  Perhaps eight Gold medals is enough for Apolo.

Some will go on to TV ads: Let’s hope they do better than Mark Spitz.

Some will go on to Sochi: Let’s hope they go to compete, improve on 2010, and not to politicize. 

No matter what they do I hope they try to convey the Dr. Russ Buss Post Olympic Optimism wish list:

1.    Go home and follow up on promise to inspire children to follow in their footsteps: Kim Yu-Na hopes: “to inspire a generation of younger skaters.”

2.    Talk about all they learned about other athletes, cultures, friends made.

3.    Shout about the PURE FUN of the competition.

4.    Remind us of the Pay off for hard work is not GOLD, SILVER OR BRONZE, but incredible self-worth and the satisfaction of a “PERSONAL BEST.”

5.    Affiliate with a foundation in a cause larger than oneself.

6.    Collaborate with other teams and countries in an international relief effort.

7.    Keep reminding us that anything is possible when you set forth a single minded goal. : Kim Yu-Na says about inspiring children:

• "I hope they'll be able to overcome their obstacles and that they never give up," she said. "There are always hard times and problems along the way."

8.    Continue to put mistakes and losses behind them and show us how to do that with ease and grace.