Did I see a glimmer of sunshine yesterday? I think I did! Retail sales were up, the stock market was up and banks are returning stimulus money because they are showing a profit. This sure looked like sunshine to me. So what can each of us do, as an individual, to help pull the United States back to a growing, prospering nation? The optimist clubs across the nation have the best outlook I can find. They follow a creed and it is great "food for thought." 

Everyone is talking about hope. We hope the unemployment will be less, we hope the sales will be more and we definitely hope the stock market will rally. Maybe we need to take it one step further and have faith instead of just hope. Hope is you want it to happen and faith is you know it is going to happen. That is a big difference, folks. 

The problem with our country right now is we just are not seeing the sunshine, we instead are seeing the cloudy day. If we put our faith in high gear and know that this recession will end, just as all others have ended in the past, we would find ourselves pulling out much faster. Each person, in their own small way, can make a difference. 

How can each of us help? When we are just hopeful and at the same time fearful it is natural for us to pull back and do less spending and investing. Of course, with less spending and investing a downward economic spiral is created of even more fear and a further decline in spending and investing. What a vicious cycle! We must have faith that the economy will get better and refuse to participate in this recession. Try waking up each morning, think "sunshine" and say, "I refuse to participate in this recession!" Your neighbors need you, your nation needs you. 

We create our own reality through our thoughts - faith will lead us. Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you.