If one cannot say anything positive, don't say anything - a rule imprinted on me by my late, dear 5', 1", adoptive mother, Ica Liberty Lewis. Never say anything negative about your organization or your community - a caveat I have enunciated at the first available occasion at every one of the three counties I have managed.

One must relentlessly make oneself available to the experience of being positive. One needs the unwavering faith that the positive will prevail.

"Happiness," according to noted Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, "cannot be pursued; it must ensue."

Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is a founder of the "positive psychology" movement. He encourages the wider world to take happiness seriously. Things that contribute to happiness are engaging in satisfying work, avoiding negative events and emotions, being married, and having a rich social network Also important are gratitude, forgiveness, and optimism. A pleasant life is a life full of positive emotions about the past, present, and future.
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu

Working positively for a greater Niagara County should be done for its own sake alone - it should be the calling for all of us who call this place home.

My suggested readings:

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Authentic Happiness by Martin E. P. Seligman

A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink