"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit." Helen Keller
Occasionally described as "naive" or "idealistic," optimists often get a bad rap-but not from other optimists. No, the only people staring into their half-empty glasses and shaking their heads in disapproval are pessimists.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future; a tendency to take a favourable or hopeful view."
If you see hardships as learning experiences, believe the sun will come out tomorrow-and believe your glass is indeed half-full - you're in luck. More and more research suggests that having an optimistic view of the world has it's benefits.
Optimism = Happiness
Dr. Martin Seligman and his team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania discovered that optimistic people are happier than pessimists-and it all boils down to how each group explains their setbacks to themselves. When something bad happens to an optimist, they view the situation as temporary and not entirely their fault. When something bad happens to a pessimist, however, they blame themselves and consider the setback to be permanent. While these are extreme examples and most individuals fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum, how we perceive and react to a situation appears to be a determining factor to our long-term happiness.
Optimism = Success
As a result of several large-scale experiments, Dr. Seligman also discovered that optimists are more successful than pessimists. Optimistic students get better grades; optimistic athletes train harder and perform better; optimistic politicians win more elections. And because optimists don't give up as easily as their pessimistic counterparts, they are more likely to enjoy successful careers. Today's companies actively seek out employees with optimistic outlooks in hopes that it will reflect in their work. It's simple: people who believe they can...do.
Optimism = Longevity
If you're constantly expecting good things to happen, researchers at the Mayo Clinic believe your optimistic viewpoint could extend your life by about a decade. In the late 1990s, the Mayo Clinic's research team examined personality tests performed in the mid 1960s and followed their subjects 30 years into the future to scientifically measure the relationship between attitude and longevity. What they were able to prove is something many of us have known all along: our mind and body work as a team. Dr. Toshihiko Maruta, the study's chief investigator explained, "The important thing is that we've proven the relationship scientifically, and made a correlation between how people see the world when they're young and how they turn out 30 years later." And while you can argue that optimism versus pessimism may depend on an individual's environment and circumstances, it has been proven that people, even under the worst conditions, have the inherent capacity to be positive and hopeful. And how we perceive and react to our environment-glass half-full or half-empty-has a direct impact on our health.
Bruno LoGreco, life coach toronto, author & motivational speaker
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