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To meet a new day with discontent or to look for reasons for joy in it — the choice is ours. However, studies show that joy itself can cause positive events. Optimists adapt better to unpleasant situations, achieve more noticeable success, feel happier and healthier than pessimists. Actress Daria Melnikova, screenwriter Mikhail Idov and TV presenter Daria Zlatopolskaya comment on phrases that help them appreciate life and believe in the best.
“If life does not seem to you a great joy, then your mind is falsely directed”
Daria Zlatopolskaya, journalist, TV presenter
I chose this phrase by Lev Tolstov as the epigraph for my documentary Ode to Joy (2011). In it, I talked with people who were over 90: from Boris Chertok, who sent Gagarin into space, to Ivan Kobylkin, a homeless child. The main thing that unites them is not special diets and exercises, but the ability to rejoice and be grateful to God. Despite the fact that Ivan Kobylkin, for example, lost his leg in the war.
It is important to understand: a good mood is not a right, but a duty! If you do not feel joy, it is because «your mind is misdirected.» And we must not feel sorry for ourselves, and even more so, do not expect pity from others, but understand what this “false orientation” is. Maybe you’re in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, with the wrong people. Do you know how Kuklachev trains cats? He finds in everyone what gives her joy, and builds a number on this. You need to understand what kind of cat you are. This is what children teach me at the Blue Bird competition. Talent, among other things, is the ability to find oneself and the ability to rejoice.
«The arc of the moral universe is long, but tends towards justice»
Mikhail Idov, director, screenwriter
Both Martin Luther King and Barack Obama quoted this phrase from the American preacher Theodore Parker. Some of it got lost, I think, because of the astronomical metaphor. There is a certain cosmic representation of morality, there is its “arc” (that is, a trajectory in space), and there is justice in the form of a cosmic object with strong gravity, which bends this trajectory. Let’s just say, not «I have a dream.»
Nevertheless, for the past few years, this phrase has saved me from the blues. And not just herself, but this clumsy cosmic metaphor. (For a non-believer, thoughts about space are generally the only available form of meditation, so I always try to watch rocket launches!) In the XNUMXst century, when it turned out that instead of the notorious “end of history”, all the same ancient prejudices and As an experiment in erasing borders, humanity again began to build walls — at such moments it is useful, in terms of the director’s language, to change optics. Look at what is happening from a cosmic distance. Only then it becomes clear that civilization, whatever one may say, is moving towards greater and greater freedom, and even the most terrible catastrophes along the way are nothing more than statistical errors.
Such is the paradox: life «today» may be worse than «yesterday», but at a conditional point in the future it will be absolutely better than at any point in the past. Personally, this is enough for me to move on.
“There is nothing impossible, it only takes time”
Daria Melnikova, theater and film actress
I heard these words at the age of nine at an event for the insurance company where my mother worked. The slogan made such a strong impression on me that it stayed with me for years. And everything in life happened just like that: no matter what I thought, everything turned out to be achievable, but I had to go a certain way. After graduating from school, I went to the acting department with a light heart. By that time, I had acted in films a lot, the series «Daddy’s Daughters» was a success, I was sure that I would enter any theater. And flew everywhere with a roar. The failure was painful.
Then I set a goal for myself — to enter the budget at all costs. It was important for me to prove to everyone and to myself that I did not accidentally find myself in the profession. I studied a lot, went through a thorny path and entered. This story has become a clear example for me: any dream must stand the test of time. But this is not a passive expectation, it must be moved. And then at the right time, what you really want will happen.