Do You Believe in Magic?
Positivity is far more than a mental preference. It changes your brain, literally, and it changes the people around you. It’s the nearest thing we have to magic.
Scott Adams, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life
There is power in optimism. It can shape reality.
I’m not talking about a superficial optimism that disregards obstacles and challenges.
Optimists see obstacles as opportunities for discovery and innovation.
Challenges are rarely as difficult as they seem at first.
The motto of a true optimist is “Where there’s an imagination, there’s a way.”
Pessimists always hedge their bets. If things end up going well, that’s a win. If their dire predictions come true, that’s a win.
Meanwhile, the optimists have found a way to make hay not only when the sun is shining, but also when it's raining.
Pessimists would rather be right than happy.
They tell themselves they are “realists.”
That’s true.
Their pessimism generates self-fulfilling predictions of a bleak reality.
Pessimists don’t expose themselves to situations where good luck visits.
Pessimists rarely benefit from the good luck they do experience because they are still moaning about the last bad beat they suffered.
Pessimism leads to inaction or destructive action.
Optimists try many things because they don’t know which ones will succeed.
Pessimists try one thing and console themselves that they knew it wasn’t going to work anyway.
Pessimists worry about the future. Optimists shape the future.
Sounds like optimism and pessimism are binary: you are either one or the other.
But it is a gradient from the Grinch to Horton the 100% faithful elephant.
So how do you become more positive?
· First, decide that you want to be more positive.
· Then, surround yourself with as many positive people as you can.
· Limit your exposure to negativity.
· Learn as much as you can.
· Develop new skills.
· Be a positive influence in your environment. Do something to make things better.
· Join with others who want to make things better.
Today will be filled with opportunities. Be on the lookout.
Do at least one thing to make someone’s day better.
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