Optimism-An Emotional Sunshine

Optimism-An Emotional Sunshine

In the words of G K Chesterton, “Optimism is the noble temptation to see too much in everything. The cultivation of optimism must be acquired because life is worth living and you get it only once.” There is no other habit which brings so much value to life as that of always expecting that the best will happen. What is the difference between an optimist and a  

 pessimist? The former thinks that the thorn  has a rose; the latter laments that a  rose has a thorn .The difference between the two is in their attitude. The choice is yours - you can look at the tree which gives cool shade or  blame the shade because it is a mere shadow. In life the optimist faces failure, criticism  and frustration but he does not go under or wilts.

  The pessimist is a misery-manufacturer who looks inward and gets deeper into shady thinking. The world inside is crowded, dark and dingy where sunshine cannot penetrate. He is in love with his own misery. Self-centred, he is seldom happy. Nor can he make anyone else happy. His world is congested and cluttered in which there is practically nothing joyful. No wonder such a gloomy person is cut off from the world of enjoyment and pleasant activities. The fact is that to live is to have a vast and wider variety of experiences than is afforded by one’s own crippling experiences. This is where the optimist thrives. He is so happily occupied with rich and various happenings around him that the dark thoughts seldom intrude into his inner world.

You may brush aside the saying, “Count your blessings.’ But counting your blessings contributes in ample measure in achieving a positive attitude. ‘See’ the beauty in a newly sprouted green leaf in spring. Hindsight too helps. You have to discriminate and be judicious. Shakespeare’s words serve as a guideline. He says, “Let’s not burden our remembrance with a heaviness that’s gone.” Some invite gloom in their life by harping on unhappy incidents, failures and blunted aspirations in life. These things add to mental and emotional load. They do not lighten the burden. Be prudent. Be practical. Shed this extra luggage. The past 

is dead. Bury it. Past memory can be a source of inspiration too. It can inspire one to optimistic actions. Multipliedactions combine into a syndrome and that is the attitude.

Whenever you face failure or fumbling, sit down, write a list of small successes you have achieved in the past and

tell yourself, ‘I have done it in the past. I can do it now and in future, too.’

Look into the future. You have buried the past. Now build the future. The ‘mantra’ is be better than yesterday. Just as the pessimist manufactures his own misery, you, the optimist manufacture your own happiness. There will be nodisappointment because you are acting in the way which helps you achieve. And achievement raises the spirit. Hope is a powerful force which brings things you want, just as despair and pessimism push them off.

Make ‘success’ your guide for life. 

You do not know what the future will bring forth. But why only think of disaster? POSITIVITY takes one forward. This sets in motion a chain effort, a hold on some ideal, some fundamental value which ups the spirit and makes one see the pink in life. It is then that life itself looks up.

 Positive thoughts generate light and hope, whereas negative thoughts will bring darkness and despair. If you deliberately think about pleasant thoughts of smiles and laughter, good humour, music and song and little happy things – your mind will be filled with sunshine, dispelling all brooding ones, hidden in the recesses of your mind. The situation does not make the man, the man makes the situation.

- Ms. Shalini Hamilton & Ms. Jincy Mathew