By Janeen J. Detrick
Good news, Pessimists; Optimism CAN be learned!
Eleanor Roosevelt: “The past is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift; That’s why we call it ‘the present’.”
People who are optimistic have generally adopted the belief that there is a reason for everything that happens, even if they can’t see what that reason is!
French Proverb: We often meet our destiny on the road we took to avoid it.
Vaclav Havel, former President of Czeoslovakia: “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that things makes sense, regardless of how they turn out.”
The Dalai Lama says, “When everything is falling apart, something else is trying to be born.”
Here are six ways to overcome pessimism, and learn to be an optimist:
1. Implement the “One Minute Energy Management Exercise”, as taught by Sports Psychologists Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, in their book, The Power of Full Engagement. How it works:
The exercise is to schedule ONE MINUTE BURSTS of energy expenditure four times per day, follow by COMPLETE RECOVERY.
Now, that plays out this way:
You decide when you’ll schedule them; 10:00, 12:30, 2:45, 4:45….Or something like that.
Then, do jumping jacks, or climb stairs, or something that gets your heart rate up, for a minute.
Then, collapse in your chair, and take deep breaths, while saying, “Thank You. I love You. Thank You. I love You,” in order to fully recover, and allow your heart rate to return to normal. Over time, your recovery period will shorten, and this is definitely a bonus, but it’s not why you’re doing it! You’re doing it for the benefit of the chemicals that get released from your brain during the process! During the one minute of exercise, you get a shot of adrenaline, followed by endorphin, the body’s natural morphine. Then, during the recovery period, your brain emits serotonin, the enthusiasm drug! Because serotonin is present, your body will trigger the release of dopamine. Because dopamine is present, you will sleep better at night, because you will get a shot of melatonin!!!!! And this is the optimist’s cocktail!
2. Do NOT look at your current reality, and “call it like you see it”, because that only re-creates it in the next minute! Only talk about how you want it to become, NOT how “it is”. Some people think looking at their current reality is “being a realist”, but what it actually is, is being in a rut!
3. Let yourself feel inspired! Some people won’t even let themselves feel good at an inspirational seminar, or meeting! They watch a movie, and think, “That’s just feel good rah rah.” They dismiss the opportunity to feel good! ALLOW YOURSELF to become inspired! And listen to inspiration programs all the time!
4. Don’t “globalize” problems! Many pessimists make the problem grandiose and global, encompassing nearly everything in their lives, when it really is just a small, specific problem! Think specifically, not generally and globally. Don’t make it permanent, pervasive, or personal.
5. Here is a technique to lift you out of a negative rumination cycle. It is called the “Tiny Laughing Synaptic Interruption Technique.” When you catch yourself thinking negatively, put on a high, falsetto, squeaky, tiny, “Mickey Mouse” voice, and mock that negative talk!
Say the same negative statements, but say them in this high voice! You’ll laugh, and it will lift you out of the negative cycle, it will interrupt the synapse of that thought process, assisting you to start a better feeling train of thought.
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