Why the misconception? Maybe we just don't understand the value and significance of optimism. Maybe we don’t see how important it really is.

The Value Of Optimism

One study stands out as perhaps the best scientific exploration of optimism -

C. Peterson, M. Seligman, and G. Vaillant, "Pessimistic Explanatory Style as a Risk Factor for Physical Illness: A Thirty-five Year Longitudinal Study", J Person Soc Psych 55 (1988): 23-7.

Three main discoveries came out of this classic paper thirty five years in the making:

1. Optimists live longer than pessimists.

2. Optimists suffer from fewer and less severe diseases.

3. Optimists are much healthier than pessimists.

Besides these obvious health benefits, optimism also implies a higher quality of life.

Quality of life - manifested as greater success, greater happiness and greater love. A life of accomplishment. A life lived full and rich. A life worth living. A life you can be proud of. A life you can sink your teeth into. These are some of the benefits of being an optimist.

Improving your optimism rates as one of the most important actions you can take to improve your life. It doesn't come automatically, though. It takes effort. It takes deliberate, conscious awareness of your thoughts and feelings. And then acting on that awareness.

Here’s one starting point:

Practice your ‘possibility thinking’ and your ‘possibility feeling’. Give yourself permission to think new thoughts and feel new feelings.

“Hey, wouldn’t it be great if I got that promotion at work?”

And when the negativity creeps in -

“Get real. You know it’ll never happen.”

Just answer it -

“Yeah, but what if it did?”

“Well, it probably won’t.”

“Yeah but what if it did?”

And stick with it. You can always outlast that negative voice inside, if you want to. You can always get in the last word.

Try it with one thing in your life. Then try it with another. And along with those thoughts, always remember to feel the feelings that come along with your thoughts.

Possibility thinking and feeling. It’s worth a shot. And what if it really worked? What if things changed?

How would THAT feel?

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