Are you one of those who see the glass as half full or half empty all of the time? Do you believe that something beneficial may be "extracted" from any scenario, including negative ones, or are you one of those that assign a negative meaning to everything? Or, to put it another way, are you an optimist or a pessimist?
We don't blame you if you fall into the second category.
Daily, the average human brain processes over 70,000 ideas, which are harmful. These are known as "automatic negative thoughts" by psychologists.
What does optimism mean?
Optimism is a mindset that helps people to see the world, other people, and events in the most favorable light possible. Unfortunately, many people confuse optimism with happiness, although the two are not synonymous. There is also a misconception that optimists are simply those who see the bright side of every circumstance, but specialists say this is not the case.
"Optimism doesn't mean you neglect life's stressors. You approach difficulties in a more productive way" - Kimberly Hershenson.
Some people are naturally optimistic, but we can all learn to be optimistic if we find meaning in our lives and work.
What does optimism mean to others?
Psychologists even dispute if optimism is a more acceptable mental state. They feel that pessimism has advantages as well. Optimism has become a cult in the United States, for example. Our belief in the power of positive thinking is foolish and ignores the complexities of the human drive.
For decades, scientists and the general public have seen optimism and pessimism as dominant personality qualities - a stable and essentially constant way of perceiving life, an essential part of our "composition." You're either an optimist or a pessimist. People's optimism and pessimism may be judged. Researchers may quantify them by asking individuals to fill out brief questionnaires, and there have been thousands upon thousands of such studies so far.
Optimism or pessimism
Strategic optimism and pessimism are far more challenging to analyze and notice since they are situational, so they have been avoided from further, in-depth studies. However, psychologists have shown that many of us flexibly employ these thinking methods, which has a lot of benefits.
Pessimism, a weak relative of optimism, emerges from the shadows during the same period. Pessimism is associated with a lot of tendencies. Persons were asked to read a description of two people, one an optimist and the other a pessimist, and then envision meeting them in one experiment.
What did the research show?
According to recent studies, optimism is the key to living a long and healthy life. According to ScienceDaily magazine, optimism has a favorable impact on mental and physical health.
The research discovered a correlation between optimism and a healthy heart in over 5,000 middle-aged and older Americans. In addition, scientists from the American University of Illinois have shown that optimistic persons have a higher chance of having a healthy heart than pessimists.
Scientists in the United States have discovered that optimism impacts cardiovascular health, regardless of the individual's socio-demographic traits or mental health. Furthermore, research has revealed that optimists have lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels.