Always look at the bright side of life

Some time ago I jotted down an extraordinary quote. “The world is a great mirror. It reflects back what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are.” The mind behind this insightful saying was Thomas Dreier, an American editor, writer and advertising executive. Ever since I first read these words, they have remained etched in my memory and I believe, under the present circumstances, I could add another phrase myself that very well fits the subject at hand. “If you are optimistic and look on the bright side of things, then the world, even in your worst moments, will turn out as sunny and bright as a Greek island in the summer.”

“Why all the fuss with positive thinking and optimism?”, you may wonder. Being optimistic, especially during these financially tough times seems to many people like burying our head in the sand to avoid dealing with life’s endless strenuous situations. And why don’t we put the same emphasis on other human qualities like “ethics” or “persistence” and “endurance”; why not on “patience” as well? “Don’t all these human characteristics carry more weight than the “fluffy” optimism you are obsessed with?” you may ask me. Please allow me to explain myself.

Thinking positively doesn’t mean ignoring tough reality. Thinking positively just means you have to approach difficulties in a more creative and imaginative way. You train yourself to expect the best not the worst. Don’t underestimate optimism. Research reveals that positive thinking is not just about being happy all the time and smiling in all directions. Positive thinking is the ability to create real value in life and helping yourself build skills that last a lifetime.

I know that I am still not very convincing, especially since most of us have plenty of reasons to be pessimistic and to expect hardly any positive changes in our lives. But researchers, in recent years, have come up with some astonishing findings. Optimists are psychologically and physiologically in a better condition than pessimists. And don’t tell me that positive thinking doesn’t come naturally to you because it doesn’t come naturally to anybody. Setbacks are a part of everybody’s life. And everybody’s first reaction to difficulties is disappointment; even despair. But the next step is up to us. We can and we must start cultivating hope and focus our attention on how to remedy whatever bad has happened to us.

But let me go back to the scientific findings I mentioned above. Research claims that people who are able to think positively can cope with stress better. They usually lose their courage less easily, succeed in putting their frustration aside and devise plans to deal with their problems.

Research, however, has found something even more powerful than what I have said before. Positive thinking is good for our health. Our mind has a very decisive influence on our body. Immunity, researchers maintain, is an area in which our thoughts play a tremendous role. A very illustrative example is given. In one study researchers found that brain areas related with negative emotions led to a weaker immune response to a flu vaccine. And generally speaking optimists possess a stronger immune response than those who have more negative views.

Other experiments have shown that people who are eager to derive pleasant emotions and satisfaction, and are not easily depressed even when the situations are not particularly positive; they have minds open up to more options and their sense for possibilities are broader. And the explanation to all this is not elaborate at all. In fact it is very simple. People who are optimists do not see threats and dark corners of the path of life. The future is a well-lit avenue which leads us forward with safety. In which case do you think people will go to the trouble to plan ahead? Which type of person is more likely to be interested in building skills and developing resources for use later in life?

So the big question is the following “If positive thinking is integral to developing valuable skills, helping us to make the most of bad situations, making us believe in ourselves and allowing us to appreciate life to the full, why on earth would anyone choose to be a pessimist?”

The world will let us down many times and bad things will happen. And we positive thinkers will look at the situation realistically and search for ways to improve things and try to learn from our experiences. Only in this way will the world prove to be loving, helpful and friendly right back at us, like a hot summer day on long sandy beach.