Generally speaking, there are two types of people in the world – pessimists and optimists.
Pessimists:
- believe that bad events will last a long time,
- imagine the worst,
- tend to see themselves and situations as ‘helpless’ give up more easily,
- tend to ‘awfulise’ and ‘catastrophize’, turning mere setbacks in disasters, and
- are more stressed than the average person,
Optimists:
- see bad events as temporary and surmountable,
- are happier,
- and more content then other people,
- have greater coping skills,
- achieve better than pessimistic people,
- their health is unusually good, and
- they age well and live longer.
Of course, unrealistic optimism can be dangerous. Optimism must be balanced with reality. Otherwise you will end up in denial. However, after decades of research, not one good thing is able to be said about pessimism!
So we can see that our mind (or our habits of thinking) has a powerful influence on our body, our mood, and our entire life. That’s because there is never a thought without a consequence. And if the thought is optimistic, the consequences are better.
Optimism – think about it.