We cannot be all optimists. We can not be optimistic all the time. Sometimes things happen in our lives that changes our outlook on how the story that we are will develop. And even more, we learn that if we were more optimistic, we would have better mental, emotional and physical lives. So we are missing out on something great.
Optimists are not only liked more, but they are more likely to succeed in whatever they do. We might be convicted by the advantages of seeing life in bright colors. We might even dislike our tendency to let life bring us down. But how can we change our perspective so that we can have a more positive view on life?
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Positive psychologists consider that we can escape our negative thinking patterns and have a more optimist viewpoint on life events.
The main idea is that through training our minds in a certain way, we can change our internal monologue so it becomes more positive.
The most important difference in how the optimist and the pessimist see the world is that for the pessimist the bad things happening in his life are just new scenes in a horror movie.
The optimist is willing to accept that in spite of the disappointing outcome he might face, this is only temporary and does not speak the whole truth.
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This is related to how each person internalizes responsibility. For the pessimist failure is always their fault, an expression of his shortcomings and moral flaws.
Optimists tend to believe that if things didn’t go as expected external circumstances or bad luck played a determining role. So they are more ready to move on and try again.
Therapists consider that an important role in changing the pessimist approach on life is to be aware of the causes of the negative thinking patterns.
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When the inner pessimist takes over, try to:
- Identify your negative thought patterns and challenge them
- Concentrate on the present moment
- Accept failures as a part of life
- Scout for other explanations for the disappointing results you face
The good news is that our minds have learned to view things in negative light. So we can, by training them, to unlearn these shortcuts to unhappiness.
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