An Overview of Optimism

Optimism is defined as a mental attitude characterized by confidence, hope towards a positive future, and success. The optimist sees an opportunity in every difficult situation. Optimism can also be said as a tendency of taking the most favourable view of the future. They expect a favourable outcome through the unfavourable situation. Optimism is the concept of understanding that all of nature is passed, present, and future. It operates by the laws of optimization, along with Hamilton’s principle of optimization. Being optimistic generally means an individual expecting the best possible outcome from any given situation and is dispositional optimism in psychology.

Characteristics of the optimistic individual:

1. Individual consistently have a feeling of a good outcome will happen in the future

2. The sense of success, positive attitude towards the end, and hoping for success during the challenging period

3. The individual with optimism waits for opportunities and takes challenging situations as learning experiences

4. The optimistic individual will develop positivity inward and shows gratitude for the good things in life

5. The influence of past failure is meagre as they hope for success in the upcoming situation

Difference between optimist and pessimists:

1. The optimist generally looks for the positive outcome and approaches the life events with a positive outlook; meanwhile, the pessimist pretends to the worst

2. The optimist looks for a new opportunity to learn. They will have the most positive and high expectation about the situation whereas the pessimist has less positivity and low expectation about the situation and usually fear of adverse outcomes

3. The positive attitude of an optimist leads to more colourful and exciting life, whereas the negative attitude of a pessimist leads to a dull and meaningless life

4. Optimist generally develops more self-confidence unlike pessimist

5. Optimist embraces the challenges in life whereas the pessimist avoids difficulties in life

6. Optimist shows less fear towards the life situation as they generate hope and positivity whereas the pessimist develops more fear towards all the situation

Effects of optimism:

1. Optimism helps to maintain the better physical health of the individual

2. The optimism drives to better performance and leads to more significant achievement in life

3. The optimism helps to develop persistence which leads to accomplishing their goals

4. The individual with good optimism develops better emotional health

5. The individual with optimism develop a better quality of life which leads to increased longevity

6. The individual with optimism tends to experience less stress as they have a positive attitude and have a belief with their abilities

Methods of practising optimism:

1. The optimism can develop innate with the practice of mindfulness

2. The development of gratitude can help with the development of optimism. One best method for practising gratitude in daily life includes practising the gratitude jar experiment. This experiment contains having an empty jar in the room and writing appreciation for anyone in the paper every day, and putting the gratitude paper in the empty pot.

3. The practice of noting down or making a record for the positive emotions will, in turn, develop positive thoughts, which lead to the development of optimism

4. Practising the method of cognitive restructuring can help an individual to establish optimism by challenging negative, self-limiting beliefs, which replace with more optimistic thought patterns

Limitations or drawbacks of optimism:

1. The blinded optimist feels overwhelmed and stressed when things go oppositely than their expectation

2. The development of optimistic bias and wishful thinking leads to the drawback in the work environment

3. The blinded optimist fails to develop psychological flexibility

4. The result of the disillusion portrays a negative impact on relationships and leads to a weak friendship with others

5. The optimist usually takes a risk in the financial part as they have optimistic hope of success in all the life events

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