Norman Vincent once said that "Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate." From the day I was born I was given the label of a joyful child. My mom even gave my name the meaning joyful encourager in hopes that it will bring life into whom the lord created me to one day become. Later people would constantly ask me, why are you always so happy. There can’t always be something to be joyful about. Well I’m at here to tell you that yes, there is. And the secret to maintaining that joy, is my constant state of Optimism. Now you might be wondering. but Asten not everyone is capable of being optimistic, there are several people that are pessimists out there. And that’s true, however, even a pessimist has a point in their life where they experience hope, Love, passion, and joy, a moment when they turn an I can't to an I can and with those moments comes optimism. So today I come baring just a few simple steps to obtaining an optimistic mindset.
"Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate."
First understanding what optimism is and what goes behind it, then developing the mindset, and lastly applying it to your life. When most people think of an optimistic person they always envision a super perky person who doesn’t ever seem down, and they approach life without a rational care in the world. When, that’s not necessarily the case. According to Geoffrey James, " A True Optimist sees things as they are, visualizes how they might become better, and then takes action to make them so." So rather it being an emotion, it’s a state of mind, a belief. So now that we understand what optimism looks like, let's dive into developing the mindset. To quote Clint Eastwood " I don’t believe in pessimism. If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will". What he says here is very important, what we think has so much to do with the that way we approach life, our thoughts are so much more powerful than we give credit. When you find yourself focusing on the negative, you can't help but expect negative results, but when you turn it around and see a positive from that negative, then the results will be positive.
Sadly, this is all easier said than done. Many times, there are situations where we can't see a silver lining. This is where practice comes in, find a situation, any situation whether good or bad, and list all the pros and cons of that situation. Now look at your list of cons and think of ways to turn them into a positive, this doesn’t necessarily mean thinking the opposite of the con but rather seeing the situation and finding a way to work it out, look at your con, figure out the problem and why it is there, and then find the solution by finding a way to eliminate it. By doing this, you are slowly but surely focusing your thought on turning your cons into pros. There is a psychological word for this process and that is the explanatory style, this involves a person looking at a situation internally and externally, seeing as to whether it is stable or unstable and if the effects are pervasive or limited. When you take a step back and evaluate each one of these aspects, you're able to pin point how a situation is developed and how to either avoid it, learn from it, or make it work in your favor. Optimism plays such a crucial role in not only our mental health, but our physical health as well, just think, if you believe that you're going to get sick, then you will get sick. If you believe that a certain medicine will work, then it will work.
To quote Clint Eastwood " I don’t believe in pessimism. If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will".
Now this might seem like a lot of steps and information for something that is so simple, so let's simplify, to obtain optimism is to focus your thoughts on things that will improve your life as well as the life of others. And that can be done by understanding what optimism is, developing the mindset, and then putting it into practice. I hope that this has given you a nice little guideline to start you on the path of good thinking, and remember, when we truly believe that something good can come from anything, then that is when we truly obtain the optimistic mindset.
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