Learn to be an optimist

BALASUBRAMANYA B Npro badge (CCI STUDENT....) (44679 Points)

04 January 2012  

You don`t get too many toddlers telling themselves that it`s no good, they`re never going to get the hang of this walking business and so they’ll just stick to crawling for the rest of their lives.

However, by the time we reach mid-adolescence, our thinking style and general outlook on the world is either optimistic or pessimistic. Once formed, our disposition tends to stay that way for the rest of our lives, unless we are persuaded or voluntarily decide to change.

You might be thinking that world needs its fair sprinkling of optimists and pessimists and so vive la difference. That may be true, but the fact is that optimists enjoy themselves more, tend to be more successful in their careers, are better at coming up with creative solutions to problems, and live longer and healthier lives on average. Certainly, in the context of upgrading your brain, having a positive outlook on life reaps many rewards.

  • Every failure is an opportunity to learn
  • We can change
  • Success depends on effort

There are, however, downsides to optimism. Like the pessimist, the optimist can have too narrow a view of future outcomes by expecting only positive outcomes. Optimists see the advantages and opportunities but ten to underplay the risks and threats involved in a course of action. This can lead to a tendency to stick with a bad strategy or course of action longer than some body with a more rational approach.

That said, the positive benefits of an optimistic outlook do seem to outweigh the drawbacks- and of course let`s not forget that optimists are better at noticing and grabbing parking spaces.

 

 

“Healing is a process of handling pain and pleasure in positive ways rather than self-destructive ways.”

 

Best of Luck......