Are you more of an optimist or more of a pessimist?

We’ve all had moments where we’ve felt more optimistic and moments where we’ve felt more pessimistic, and sometimes this can be context-dependent.

Benefits for Both Body and Mind

Shifting to a more optimistic perspective has immense benefits for both the body and the mind, as supported by scientific research. These benefits include:

• Lowered stress levels: Optimists believe that positive events are more stable and frequent than negative ones. They think they can avoid problems and prevent them from happening, and therefore they cope with stressful situations more successfully than pessimists (1).
• Reduced risk of depression: Adopting an optimistic view of life has been found to decrease the likelihood of mood disorders, including depression (2).
• Improved cardiovascular health: Individuals with higher levels of optimism have been shown to have a 35% lower risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event compared to those with lower levels of optimism (3).
• Increased positive emotions: Optimism is linked to better physical and mental health outcomes and can foster a sense of well-being even during difficult times (4).
• Longer life span: Scientific studies indicate that the most optimistic people tend to live, on average, 5.4% longer (approximately 4.4 years) than the least optimistic individuals, resulting in a richer quality of life due to increased happiness (5).
• Enhanced sleep quality: Optimistic individuals are more likely to sleep longer and experience higher energy levels during the day, as evidenced by a study of 3,500 people (6).
• Decreased risk of cognitive impairment in older adults: Higher levels of optimism have been associated with a reduced likelihood of cognitive decline in older adults, owing to the positive health behaviors, biological processes, and health conditions linked to optimism that serve as protective factors against cognitive impairment (7).
• Greater kindness and compassion: Happier individuals demonstrate higher motivation to perform acts of kindness and are more adept at recognizing and engaging in kind behaviors, as supported by a study on happiness and kindness (8).

Optimism: A Perspective Shift

Now, how exactly does an optimistic mentality lead to all of these benefits? And how can we cultivate optimism within ourselves?

First and foremost, it's essential to understand that being pessimistic or optimistic is a state of mind. This does not necessarily define our identity but rather represents a temporary, context-dependent experience.

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Someone that is experiencing pessimism will view a difficult experience as:

• Permanent
• Personal
• Pervasive

This perspective is highlighted by Dr. Martin Seligman in his book, "Learned Optimism," where he discusses the 3 P's: Permanence, Personalization, and Pervasiveness, which characterize a pessimistic outlook.

By consciously challenging these notions, we can shift our perspective:

Permanent shifts to understanding that this is a Temporary experience - it will pass.

Personal would shift to a sense of Common Humanity, recognizing the complexity of the situation at hand without taking it personally.

Pervasive would shift to the understanding that this is an Isolated Experience, not a representation of your entire life.

The more you cultivate this shift in perspective, the more natural it becomes. Like any skill, the more you practice, the more it becomes routine, almost like a habit. This habit is often what distinguishes those who lean towards optimism from those who tend towards pessimism—they have honed a mindset that has become second nature to them. Fortunately, scientific findings demonstrate that shifting our perspective is indeed achievable (9).

Gratitude: A Gateway to Optimism

So how do we become more optimistic?

In addition to a mindset shift, cultivating gratitude has emerged as an effective approach in nurturing a more optimistic outlook. Engaging in gratitude practices fosters the growth of positive emotions, consequently fostering an increasingly optimistic outlook on life. Furthermore, scientific research highlights the profound impact of gratitude, yielding a range of beneficial effects, including:

• Enhanced emotional well-being: Research on gratitude demonstrates that individuals who actively focus on their blessings experience a notable improvement in their emotional and interpersonal well-being (10).
• Pain relief: Gratitude intervention has been shown to alleviate chronic back pain (11).
• Improved heart health: Recognizing and giving thanks for the positive aspects of life results in improved mental, and ultimately physical, health in patients with asymptomatic heart failure (12).
• Better sleep quality: Gratitude practices have been shown to deepen sleep and extend its duration, resulting in improved overall sleep quality (13).
• Reduction of depressive symptoms: Studies have demonstrated that practicing gratitude can reduce symptoms of depression, with positive reframing and positive emotions acting as key mechanisms in this process (14).

Cultivating Gratitude

A Gratitude Journal can serve as a simple yet powerful tool for integrating the practice of gratitude into your daily routine (15).

1. Begin by taking a deep breath.
2. Connect with your heart.
3. Write down three things you are grateful for, along with the reasons why.

Over time, you will likely find more and more things to be grateful for, training your brain to think more positively.

This practice can become a catalyst for happiness and contentment, enabling you to wholeheartedly engage with life, savor each experience, and find gratitude in even the simplest of joys. It fosters a profound sense of fulfillment that transcends time and circumstance.

We invite you to watch the video below in which MAPs key contributor Dan Lerner dives into this practice. In addition, feel free to download the Gratitude Journal and keep it for future use as you cultivate this practice. May this feeling of gratitude offer you strength to draw upon in moments of difficulty.

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Contact us at info@mindfulawarenesspractices.com to bring a workshop to your organization, or to learn more about our other offerings.

Resources:

1. Optimism and Its Impact on Wellbeing
2. Relationship between Mental Disorders and Optimism
3. Optimism and cardiovascular health
4. Optimism and its Impact on Mental Health
5. Optimism linked to longevity and well-being in two recent studies
6. Optimistic people sleep better, longer, study finds | ScienceDaily
7. Dispositional Optimism and Incidence of Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults - PMC
8. Happy People Become Happier through Kindness: A Counting Kindnesses Intervention | SpringerLink
9. Benefits of Being More Optimistic - Cory Muscara
10. Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life
11. Efficacy of a Character Strengths and Gratitude Intervention for People with Chronic Back Pain | The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling | Cambridge Core
12. A grateful heart is a healthier heart
13. 16 Why Gratitude Enhances Well-Being: What We Know, What We Need to Know
14. Gratitude and depressive symptoms: The role of positive reframing and positive emotion
15. Dan Lerner: Gratitude Journal