OPTIMISM

     According to an article shared on Positivepsychology.org, “Researches have shown that optimism is associated with many positive life outcomes, such as increased life expectancy, overall health, better mental health, increased fitness and business success, better recovery rates than heart surgeries, and better coping strategies when faced with distress”. When you see how useful it is to be optimistic, it becomes difficult for you to understand why a person does not choose to be optimistic. Understanding the definition of optimism, and how to be more optimistic will really change your life.

DEFINITION OF OPTIMISM

     Many people think optimism is as looking at the bright side of every situation. Optimistic people are the people who see the half of the glass full. They see the silver lining and they look for the positive one in every situation. Dictionaries define optimism as “hopefulness, the ability to emphasize the good aspects of a situation, and the belief that something good will happen.” When we look at other sources, we see similar definitions about the concept of optimism.

     It is easy to understand what optimism is. However, it is difficult to integrate optimism into our lives.

CHOOSİNG TO BE AN OPTIMISTIC

     Something you did or didn’t do can make you look optimistic or not. Because optimism can be considered as a reaction to an event. From this point of view, the definition of optimism may make being optimistic or pessimistic a topic beyond our control. But this is not a right approach. Because being an optimist is actually a choice that we can all make.

     It is easy to be optimistic when your life is going well, but what if it is not? Surrendering to your feelings is the easiest thing to do. It is an easy way to get angry in response to this situation when something bad happens to you. When you face a series of problems, it is the first expected reaction to feel like your world is falling apart. But being pessimistic in such cases doesn't help you. Choosing to be optimistic may not improve your current situation. However, it generally improves your view of life. Therefore, learning how to choose optimism is an important part of life.

HOW TO BE MORE OPTIMISTIC?

"If you turn your face towards to the sunlight , you can't see your shadow." - Helen Keller

Stop Focusing on Your Problems

     If you want to be a more optimistic person, you have to change your mind. Instead of focusing on what went wrong in your life, start looking for solutions to the problem and focus on them. For example, if you have financial problems, it's easy to complain by thinking how bad your financial situation is. You may be faced with the fact that you don't have enough money to pay back accumulated bills and other financial commitments. But thinking about the problem and standing on it doesn't change it. All you do is stress yourself and make you feel sick.

            A more optimistic approach to the example of financial problems would be the start of thinking about solutions. Consider ways to make more money. What can you do to pay the account? What solutions are there to help you solve this problem? The more you focus on these questions and their answers, the more optimistic you will be. You will begin to see that you have control and you will be able to make a difference in your situation.

     Pessimistic people tend to think that life is out of control. In addition, people with pessimistic tendencies expect things to get worse. An optimistic person believes that they have control over the consequences of its life. Optimistic people can remain positive even if they have hard times.

Start Confirming Your Achievements

     If you want to be more optimistic, you need to start seeing things that going well in your life. It is easy to remember failures and difficult times. However, do not forget to accept the things that going well. At the end of each day, take time to write a list of your achievements that day. These can be big things like finding a new job or small things like grocery shopping.

     The more you start tagging what you have accomplished throughout the day as success, the more optimistic you will be. This will also help you feel more optimistic and help increase your self-confidence.

"Love yourself. It is important to stay positive. Because beauty within yourself . ” - Jenn Proske

Track Your Progress

     Pessimistic people ignore the progress they have made in their lives. They focus on what they don't have and what goes wrong, they don't think about things that go right. If you want to be more optimistic, you need to start tracking your progress. No matter how small, if you have made progress in one area, celebrate it. This can be as simple as keeping track of what you have learned throughout the day.

Visualize Your Success

     The definition of optimism says that the optimistic people expect the best result in a situation. This is something you can learn how to do, even if it does not seem natural to you. If you feel anxious or negative, take time to visualize positive things. Close your eyes and imagine the positive result you want to see in this case. Think about this result for a few minutes and start to see and feel how it will happen.

Visualizing a result does not guarantee that this will happen. However, it helps train your mind to expect a more positive outcome. While you're waiting for something, you're more likely to get it. So, if you are expacting good , then you will start looking for the good one. If you think it will be bad, you will play, research and even create bad scenarios in your mind.

   "If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to perform at your best, you will eventually overcome your urgent problems and be prepared for greater challenges." - Pat Riley

Being Grateful Practice

     Optimistic people tend to be more grateful for what they have in their lives. Pessimistic people focus so much on negative and bad events that they forget the reasons they should be thankful for. In fact, there are many things that we need to be thankful in our lives.

            We can create a gratitude diary by writing them in a notebook in a list. Keeping a diary of gratitude in this way makes us realize the good things that happen to us on a daily basis. In this way, we feel more optimistic by focusing on positive thoughts. At the same time, we make a mental and real list of the things we are grateful for. Thanks to this list, we improve our perspective by focusing our mind on more positive. Whatever situation you live in, there is something that everyone will be grateful for. Things you will be grateful for can be as simple as eating food, a house that you own, or a family that loves you. It doesn't matter what you add to your list when you find one reason and focus your attention on it.

Don't Spend Time With Negative People

 It is difficult to be optimistic when you are surrounded by negative people. If your friends and family tend to be negative, you might consider limiting the time you spend with them. Having pessimistic people around you makes it harder to protect your optimism no matter how hard you try. Even if the people around you do not do this on purpose, they will prevent your efforts to be optimistic at the end of the day. In such cases, look for new people to be friends with. These people should be optimistic, goal-oriented and expect the best in life. Because these people will help you stay optimistic in difficult times. If there are negative people in your life that you cannot break your relationship with, you need to work on your ability to reduce the time you spend with them and to control speech when you are together.

"I believe that any success in life is made by entering an area of optimism." –Sylvester Stallone

Seek Help If You Have Trouble Struggle

             Life is hard and being optimistic is not always an easy goal to achieve. If you have experienced many negative situations and events in your life, you can struggle to develop and maintain an optimistic attitude. If you are depressed, optimism may seem like a distant goal. Maybe you tried to change your attitude in the past. However, as a result of this effort, you have achieved very little success. The good news is that you don't have to do this alone. There are professionals at Terapiya.co who can help you work in this process.

WHAT ARE THE WAYS TO BE OPTIMISTIC?

“When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. Very simple." - Paulo Coelho

     Almost everyone wants to be more optimistic. In today's world and in the political landscape, it can be difficult to be optimistic, to overcome stressful and negative situations. But if you learn about optimism, you can benefit  some great advantages.

     There are some conclusions that come with both mental and physical optimism. Studies have proven that optimists are healthier both in mind and body. While too much forced optimism is unhealthy, a healthy dose of optimism can greatly improve your life.

     No matter how negative you tend to be, you can learn optimism. Actually, it's all about changing your mind and way of thinking. It is also very important to control your environment and what you are exposed to. Often, you should be willing to focus on positive events around the world to learn about optimism. If you want, take a look at the advices that we can give you to be an optimistic person.

• Focus on your goals and expectations

• Learn to be thankful

• Deal with solutions, not problems

• Look for positivity in difficult processes

• Act with what you can control

• Look at your future positively

• Change your perspective

• Remember that nothing is permanent

• Live in the moment

• Be realistic

• Try to laugh

• Love people and nature

      As Helen Keller once said, “Optimism is the belief that leads to success”. Nothing can be done without hope and trust. If you are struggling to have hope and confidence, contact a Terapiya specialist today.