Should we (and can we?) be optimistic?

Is having a positive attitude worth it or is it all just new-age touchy feely nonsense?  Is optimism a waste of time in the world we’re living in because so much is going wrong in so many areas? 

 As someone who teaches positive strategies to people, you can guess what my opinion is.  My belief is that choosing to be positive can make a huge difference - in personal relationships, home life, work and mostly with ourselves.  I recently set out to find out if this was just an unsubstantiated belief that we Pollyanna types think or if there was research to support my quest for more positivity in our world. 

I started with the seminars I attend for my business.  I’ve been lucky to study with some of the best and brightest success coaches and motivational speakers in the world and they are strong advocates of consciously choosing a positive attitude.  After a couple of days with them and other like-minded attendees, we leave believing pretty much anything is possible – jobs, relationships, happiness, abundance.  Admittedly it’s not easy to sustain that kind of enthusiasm when we get back into the flow of regular life with all its challenges and uncertainties, cranky relatives, and parade of tragedies on the news, but it seems easier with that strengthened positive outlook.

I do know that many people are seeking ways to be more positive.  Check out the latest Alex and Ani bracelets which everyone is sporting and you’ll see that they state “our products are infused with positive energy technology”.  Log on to Pinterest.com and see all the positive and inspirational signs people (me included) have pinned up on their boards.  It seems we are looking for a better way.

Here’s the good news.   I have found that there is indeed research to back up why being positive matters.  According to Jean Chatzky’s book “The Difference”, people who are positive are more resilient, can handle stress better, are better problem solvers, can think more clearly, and have more energy.  Not too bad for just choosing to look at the bright side.  And people who are more resilient have a better ability to overcome the innate negativity we humans seem to carry around.  We’re better able to see the world as it is rather than worse than it is which is how many of us currently see it.

So how to become more positive?

1.       Minimize the amount of time you spend on the news.  With all due respect to the hard work reporters and journalists do, the news tends to be the list of the ten worse things that happened yesterday.  Find your favorite news source, keep informed but don’t believe that what you see on the news is all there is going on in the world.  With seven billion of us on the planet, there’s also a lot of exciting, touching, heart-warming, positive and miraculous things happening too.  In fact, I read that for every negative thing that happens, ten positive ones do.  We just have to take the time to notice them.

2.       Read, listen to, watch some up-lifting material.  I’m a big fan of Oprah Winfrey’s new network OWN. 

3.       Take some of those positive seminars I mentioned.  There are a lot of us out there presenting them.  Find someone you like, go to their seminars, follow them on social media.

4.       Limit the time you spend with negative people and find more positive people to hang around with.  So many great leaders say we become who we spend time with.  If your life is pretty negative, look at who you hang around with. Even more, check out what mindset you’re putting out there.

5.       Start to become more aware of what you’re thinking and saying.  We used to have a ‘Positivity Jar’ in my Strategies for Success classes to help keep negativity in check.  We made an agreement in the beginning of the semester that every time a student said something negative, they had to put a penny in the jar.  Anytime I said something negative, I had to put in a quarter.  With 10 classes each year, we collected enough to donate to the Rhode Island Food Bank.  The result?  A much more positive environment that we all benefited from.

If any of this makes the least bit of sense to you, make a decision right now to up the level of positivity in your life.  Notice the good, the beautiful, the kind.  Wonder about the possibilities, the discoveries, the miracles.  Load up that mental positivity jar and you’ll be more able to handle whatever life throws your way.