Be an Optimist
If you change your mind¡ªfrom pessimism to optimism¡ª
you can change your life.
Do you see the glasses as half-full rather than half empty?
Do you keep your eye upon the doughnut, not upon the hole?
Suddenly these clich¨¦s are scientific questions,
as researchers scrutinize the power of positive thinking.
Research is proving that optimism can help you to be happier,
healthier and more successful.
Pessimism leads, by contrast, to hopelessness, sickness and failure,
and is linked to depression, loneliness and painful shyness.
If we could teach people to think more positively,
it would be like inoculating them against these mental ills.
Your habits count but the belief
that you can succeed affects whether or not you will.
In part, that's because optimists and pessimists deal with the same challenges
and disappointments in very different ways.
When things go wrong the pessimist tends to blame himself.
"I'm not good at this." "I always fail." He would say.
But the optimist looks for loopholes.
Negative or positive, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If people feel hopeless they don't bother to acquire the skills
they need to succeed.
A sense of control is the litmus test for success.
The optimist feels in control of his own life.
If things are going badly, he acts quickly, looking for solutions,
forming a new plan of action, and reaching out for advice.
The pessimist feels like fate's plaything and moves slowly.
He doesn't seek advice, since he assumes nothing can be done.
Many studies suggest that the pessimist's feeling of helplessness
undermines the body's natural defenses, the immune system.
Research has found that the pessimist doesn't take good care of himself.
Feeling passive and unable to dodge life's blows,
he expects ill health and other misfortunes, no matter what he does.
He munches on junk food, avoids exercise,
ignores the doctor, has another drink.
Most people are a mix of optimism and pessimism,
but are inclined in one direction or the other.
It is a pattern of thinking learned at our mothers' knees.
It grows out of thousands of cautions or encouragements,
negative statements or positive ones.
Too many "don't" and warnings of danger can make a child feel incompetent,
fearful-and pessimistic.
Pessimism is a hard habit to break¡ªbut it can be done.