Keep an open mind

It is sometimes difficult to be optimistic about the future when times are not the best. And yet, very often, it is an optimistic attitude that lifts us above a stubbornly negative mood. Without any change in present circumstances, the mere shifting of our outlook makes a half-empty glass look half-full; a partly-cloudy sky, partly-sunny; and a period of struggle, an opportunity for growth rather than a set-back or a defeat. 

There is also the idea of suspending judgment--that is, submitting no interpretation to ourselves as final, to the extent it is possible to do so and still live our lives. We experience something as "bad," and yet wonder how we are to know if its subsequent consequences are also bad. One could say the same of things we experience as "good;" how are we to know it is "good," as our initial judgment claims? In either case, there is no telling what will come of it all, hence the old Taoist story: 

Let's keep an open mind then, shall we?