I love many, many things in this world. I love ice cream, I love romcoms, I love Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence (I mean, who doesn’t?), and I love Ernest Hemingway. That last one may not seem to fit with the rest, but I came across this hilarious scene in the movie “Silver Linings Playbook” with Bradley Cooper that had me laughing out loud the other day. So I want to share it. If you have two minutes free and want a good laugh at the expense of Ernest Hemingway, enjoy.
He gives a great little synopsis of A Farewell to Arms, but he’s obviously very upset about the tragic ending.
“I will apologize on behalf of Ernest Hemingway because that’s who’s to blame here.” He’s angry it doesn’t have a happy ending because he says it’s hard enough in the world. How cute is his mom’s reaction? And to top off the scene, his father is Robert De Niro. What’s not to love here?
Real talk: He’s mad at the book because he’s trying so hard to find a silver lining in everything. I love the positive mindset he’s working towards with his “excelsior” mantra that he mentions in the beginning of the clip. I completely agree and I find it so peaceful and useful to be able to take anything negative and turn it into a positive. Optimism is a lens you can choose to view things through…or you can complain and bitch and feel unhappy. But your attitude and your experience is what you make it. I think when I figured this out it became a fun game for me to try to make my own fun out of any little negative daily annoyance. Try it out sometime when you’re stuck in a long line, or when a coworker’s bugging you, or you get caught walking in the rain. Choose to be happy and spread it!
“You know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna take all this negativity and I’m gonna use it as fuel and I’m gonna find a silver lining, that’s what I’m gonna do. And that’s no bullshit, that’s no bullshit. That takes work, and that’s the truth.”
Choosing to be happy in any situation is hard work and it takes a lot of practice. A nice reminder for me are these emails I get once a day called The Daily Motivator. My uncle subscribed me to this awesome motivational service that sends encouraging emails out every day. Gotta love a little positive reinforcement! It was created by Ralph Marston in 1995 and “the site has become one of the most popular and enduring destinations for daily positivity.” Check it out, and if you’ve never seen the movie “Silver Linings Playbook,” I highly recommend you pull it up on Netflix. Fun fact: the word “excelsior,” as J Law points out in the movie, is the motto of New York and it means “ever upward.”
a happy spread 