Why Changing Your Point Of View Can Improve Your Life

"Two men look out through the same bars: One sees the mud, and one sees the stars."- Frederick Langbridge, A Cluster of Quiet Thoughts.

If you've placed second in a writing contest, will you jump for joyand push for better results the next time or will you be discouraged and find an excuse not to join again?

In life, you are always filled with choices. You may opt to have a pessimist's view and live a self-defeated life or you may decide to take the optimist's route and take a challenging and fulfilling life.

So why nurture an optimist's point of view? And why now?

Well, optimism has been linked to positive mood and good morale; to academic, athletic, military, occupational and political success; to popularity; to good health and even to long life and freedom from trauma.

On the other hand, the rates of depression and pessimism have never been higher. It affects middle-aged adults the same way it hits younger people. The mean age of onset has gone from 30 to 15. It is no longer a middle-aged housewife's disorder but also a teen-ager's disorder' as well.

Here's how optimists are in action and researches that back up why it really pays to be an optimist:

Optimists expect the best

The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events, which will last a long time and undermine everything they do, are their own fault.

The truth is optimists are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world. What differs is the way they explain their misfortune---it's the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case.

Optimists tend to focus on and plan for the 'problem' at hand. They use 'positive reinterpretation.' In other words, they most likely reinterpret a negative experience in a way that helps them learn and grow. Such people are unfazed by bad situation, they perceive it is a challenge and try harder.

They won't say 'things will never get better,' 'If I failed once, it will happen again' and 'If I experience misfortune in one part of my life, then it will happen in my whole life.?

Positive expectancies of optimists also predict better reactions during transitions to new environments, sudden tragedies and unlikely turn of events. If they fall, they will stand up. They see opportunities instead of obstacles.

People respond positively to optimists

Optimists are proactive and less dependent on others for their happiness. They find no need to control or manipulate people. They usually draw people towards them. Their optimistic view of the world can be contagious and influence those they are with.

Optimism seems a socially desirable trait in all communities. Those who share optimism are generally accepted while those who spread gloom, panic and hysteria are treated unfavorably.

In life, these people often win elections; get voted most congenial and sought for advice.

When the going gets tough, optimists get tougher

Optimists typically maintain higher levels of subjective well-being during times of stress than do people who are less optimistic. In contrast, pessimists are likely to react to stressful events by denying that they exist or by avoiding dealing with problems.

Pessimists are more likely to quit trying when difficulties arise.

They persevere. They just don't give up easily, they are also known for their patience. Inching their way a step closer to that goal or elusive dream.

Optimists are healthier and live longer

Medical research has justified that simple pleasures and a positive outlook can cause a measurable increase in the body's ability to fight disease.

Optimists' health is unusually good. They age well, much freer than most people from the usual physical ills of middle age. And they get to outlive those prone to negative thoughts.

So why not be an optimist today? And think positively towards a more fulfilled life.

Why not look forward to success in all your endeavors? Why not be resilient? Like everybody else you are bound to hit lows sometimes but don't just stay there. Carry yourself out of the mud and improve your chances of getting back on the right track. And why not inspire others to remove their dark-colored glasses and see life in the bright side?

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

Creating Optimism

The Optimism Advantage: 50 Simple Truths to Transform Your Attitudes and Actions into Results

Hard Optimism: How to Succeed in a World Where Positive Wins

The Miracle of Optimism: Change Your Perspective, Transform Your Life.

Change for Good | Be Positive

There's a saying: "Change is good." There are plenty of times in life when you might be tempted not to believe those words. You lose the job you've relied on for ten years. How is that a good thing? If you believe in your heart that it's a good thing, it is a good thing, because the belief that "change is good" will automatically lead to positive change in your life.

This is not an airy-fairy feel-good band aid theory. It has been embraced by positive thinkers around the world for thousands of years. Some of them you have never heard of and some of them, like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and other great leaders are beacons of light to all of humanity. Ask yourself this: who has ever created positive change through negative thinking? Negative thinking is destructive to you and to everyone around you. 

Positive thinking is always empowering - Always.

Viktor Frankl was a great neurologist and psychologist who lived through the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. He survived that experience by finding meaning and value in life even under the most horrific conditions. One of his most famous sayings is this: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

If you lose your job suddenly, that is a stimulus for change. Your freedom lies in your response - your decision. If you believe that change is good, you will bring about positive change in your life. Suddenly, what looked like bleakness and poverty becomes a doorway to possibility that would have been closed to you had you not lost your job.

Nobody's saying there won't be challenges ahead of you. If you were making fifty or a hundred thousand ringgit a year and suddenly find yourself having to work as a cleaner just in order to eat, it's going to be a difficult transition. But while you're cleaning the floors, you can think about that novel you always wanted to write but never did and when you go home at night, you can work on it. 

Who knows, you may even find that sweeping floors is a pleasant change from your formerly stressful job! Now that your "safe career" is gone, you have the freedom to nourish your creative side. Even if it never pays you a dime, it can provide you with riches that money just can't buy. Just nourishing your inner genius is a positive change and is sure to lead you in other positive directions.

Believe it: you are the captain of your fate. Think positive and positive things will happen. They may not be the things you expected or even wanted, but if you embrace change with a positive attitude, you can't help but learn, grow and thrive.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization (Leadership for the Common Good)