Is It Possible To Learn To Be Optimistic

Everyone has a different way of perceiving the events that happen in their lives, which shapes our outlook on life. But can we learn to see things more positively?

Optimism is more about resilience than temperament. A resilient person perceives negative information as temporary and feels that he has some ability to affect it.

When bad things happen, the pessimist and optimist both accept them. The difference is that the pessimist’s explanation is “I knew this would happen.” The optimist has an explanation of “I’ll get through it anyway.” When good things happen, the optimist rejoices, thinking “how great it is that it happened,” while the pessimist is frightened that it won’t stay that good for long and a bad streak will come next.

There are three ways that you can influence your own perception of events.

1. Realize that you can change your own way of thinking. Without this first step, you become a victim of the things going on around you. The way you perceive your life shapes your mood. We all have our internal way of defining life, which largely determines our destiny. This recognition is the beginning of opening yourself up to new possibilities.

2. Stop tying happiness to accomplishments. Man often thinks that until he achieves something, there is no positivity in his life. This is where the pessimist and optimist switch perspectives. The pessimist’s happiness is overly dependent on external circumstances. The optimist focuses on personal abundance and sees happiness as an inner work in progress. But don’t confuse contentment with complacency. Hard work naturally leads to good results and affects your well-being. But it’s still important to enjoy the stage of work you’re in now.

3. Develop the habit of keeping track of your thoughts. The average person has 60,000 thoughts a day. They will either send you in the right direction or distract you from what you really want. If 30% of your thoughts send you in the wrong direction, that would be 18,000 counterproductive negative pushes every day, or 126,000 for the week! This is often referred to as Self-Talk. The more we become aware of our thoughts–both positive and negative–the more we focus on the approaches and actions that make us more resilient.