The more balanced and positive your mental and emotional state, the more your decisions, behavior, actions and results will reflect this, and your life experience will improve.
While we can look at research showing some potential benefits of optimism and links between a person's level of optimism and things like their health and longevity, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or research studies to tell us what we already have know by nature …
We are smart enough to know that everything else in our life feels a little (or a lot) easier when we think more positively and are more optimistic.
And the top 2 things you should know beforehand about optimism are:
You were NOT born an optimist and you were NOT born a pessimist. These are learned ways of being and behavior that we take up through our previous life due to the conditioning of our way of thinking. So as an adult, you can CHOOSE your mind and recondition it however you prefer.
Optimism does NOT deny reality. It doesn't get lost in la-la-land full of fake rainbows, fairies and unicorns! It is a conscious choice to keep the mind and heart open to bring conscious awareness, free will, and opportunity into any situation we face. It is the intelligence of knowing that your own perception affects your life outcomes.
I used to think of myself as an optimist. Until I had a clinical hypnosis session about a health issue I was facing and the doctor suggested that I might benefit from learning to be an optimist! Shocked, I delved into the matter to understand what he meant and found that I was actually demonstrating the traits of a pessimist! Sneaky little negative tendencies disguised as "being realist".
From my own experience I can confirm the following:
You can absolutely go from pessimist to optimist, and
It improves your life in endless ways!
I would not be healthy now and would not have the life I dreamed of if I had not made up my mind to be an optimist. Least of all because a pessimistic view would be: “I cannot heal and I cannot have the life of my dreams, so why!”. End of the story. But optimism is a different story, with a different, more magical, beautiful ending.
In case you missed my other resources on spotting pessimists in action so you can catch it and retrain yourself, below are 4 common things pessimists do. It is very important to understand this thought pattern so that you can transform it if it happens to you:
Interpretation of situations / people is immediately negative as a starting point.
Exaggeration or expansion of negativity (feed it, let it grow, look for more, make it worse than it is)
Assumption that the negative thing / situation / person is omnipresent or permanent ("this will never change", "there is no way out", "this is doomed", "there is no solution")
Projection of the negativity beyond the context of the situation (interpreted as negatively affecting all areas of your life rather than limiting them to the specific situation).
As you notice these patterns, hold absolute LOVE & COMPASSION to yourself. Remember that pessimism is learned (often early in life, before we are self conscious enough to know better). We are all human and we all experience these areas of growth. No problem!
AND… pessimistic tendencies can easily be turned into a new, powerful, life-changing optimism.
We need this understanding if we want to jump further forward in our mental and emotional well-being and into a better life. Because how can we change in ourselves what we do not see or understand?
In the following coaching video we are dealing with:
The 3 steps of an optimist
How these simple steps break and replace pessimistic patterns.
And you will see why it works IMMEDIATELY, every time!
3 steps to be an optimist
Practice the 3 Steps of Being an Optimist Below. When situations or experiences unfold in your day, or when any thoughts about the present or future arise – tell yourself …
INTERPRETING CONSCIOUSLY – What is a neutral (or positive) way of interpreting this situation ? Remember that neutral is always available – as it simply focuses on the pure facts, without adding a meaning, no
judgment, no opinion.
GRATEFUL – What am I grateful for? Are you looking for something in / around the situation
or simply in your life in general for which you can be grateful (thanks for something that already exists immediately changes your energy state and helps you feel lighter).
OPTIMISTIC – What is a new possibility? Open your mind to the endless possibilities that may be available in the future, even by simply acknowledging that there are possibilities that you cannot see right now.
A simple memory is the acronym C G O.
Conscious interpretation, gratitude, optimism!
Related Resources for Being an Optimist
