Be an optimist for the day

Are you an optimist, realist or pessimist? Does it matter for your future?

Photo by Steve B Flickr CC

You get what you deserve

Great accidents happen, "force majeur" events like earthquakes, lightning strikes and storms are of a magnitude and impact outside control. But, excluding these disasters, you really get what you deserve and it all comes down to your outlook on life - if you are a optimist, realist or pessimist.

The pessimist lives in a shrinking world

If you beleive that bad things are bound to happen, you are right, they will. The important thing is how you react to them. Stress is not caused by the event itself but by your reaction to it.

When you start to avoid problems, you also start to defend what you have. Only playing defence is a strategy that will make you say no to new opportunities. And, as things sometimes go wrong, over time you will lose some of the things you have achieved without using new opportunities to replace them - your world shrinks.

The realist is a bit depressive

The only really important time is now - it is the only one we live in. To be a "realist" you plan for future bad events, things like paying insurance. This is very good within reason. The problem is defining what is reasonable.

The problem with the future is that it is very fluid, things change all the time. If you can manage to not become emotionally drained by preparing for possible disasters you might have a good recipee for a successful life. But the optimist have more fun.

The optimist is happier

The ancient recipee for happiness is to live in the present, to recognize the oppportunities and act in the moment. To have a strategy is a "realist's" trait, but the warriors of old saw it only as a preparation, not something dictating your actions. The optimist is more opportunistic, less bogged down by doubt, more directed towards action.

As well-being goes, nothing beats "positive action". To feel a bit down and then do something makes the clouds go away. The optimist will go through a happier life, looking for new opportunities and through that find new adventures.

How about be an optimist, at least for the day?