Morale

Keeping up my own morale is my own responsibility. The greatest contribution I can make to my environment is to maintain my own mindfulness and compassion in my everyday life. Morale, my positive attitude about potential outcomes, sustains my practice. My practice sustains my morale. My morale supports the morale of others when they are under stress. 

It is easy to be up when life's coincidences provide glory, money or sexual conquest. The health and beauty of youth support optimism and hope effortlessly for the many. As age progresses, morale becomes harder to sustain without core values and daily discipline. Gravity and the slow deterioration of the human body pull at the morale of youthfulness subtly over time. 

The cosmetically altered elders of developed societies create an illusion with youthful exteriors. For some, this is a useful stimulus to prime a practice of maintaining health, sexual activity and positive outlook. Others are able to sustain their youthful optimism by maintaining a daily practice. This youthful optimism is in itself attractive and helps sustain social and sexual connections in their environments. 

A positive outlook does not require youth or beauty or money. A positive outlook requires regular positive results from regular positive actions. Regular positive actions require practice at initiating them. The engagement in regular adventure and change is the key to maintaining a positive life outlook, or morale. This adventure and change need not be dramatic. Changing one entrenched habit on a daily basis is an adventure which inspires creativity and yields understanding. 

This is the grist of practice. The grinding work of daily implementation of mindfulness and compassion. Being able to engage in that work with a positive attitude is a form of joy with internal peace. Finding joy and internal peace in the work of life then sustains a positive attitude. The direction from which I approach my peace and joy is irrelevant. The point is to remain focused on pursuing it with compassion and generosity.