111. BENEFITS OF OPTIMISM

In The Atlantic, Emily Esfahani Smith, author of The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters, reminds us of the power of optimism. What follows are clips from that article.

“Far from being delusional or faith-based, having a positive outlook in difficult circumstances is not only an important predictor of resilience — how quickly people recover from adversity — but it is the most important predictor of it. People who are resilient tend to be more positive and optimistic compared to less-resilient folks; they are better able to regulate their emotions; and they are able to maintain their optimism through the most trying circumstances.”

Dr. Dennis Charney, dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, “… examined approximately 750 Vietnam war veterans who were held as prisoners of war for six to eight years. Tortured and kept in solitary confinement, these 750 men were remarkably resilient. Unlike many fellow veterans, they did not develop depression or posttraumatic stress disorder after their release, even though they endured extreme stress. … After extensive interviews and tests, Charney found ten characteristics that set them apart. The top one was optimism. The second was altruism. Humor and having a meaning in life — or something to live for — were also important.”

“Resilient people are good at bouncing back because they are emotionally complex. … They just let go of the negativity, worry less, and shift their attention to the positive more quickly. Resilient people also respond to adversity by appealing to a wider range of emotions. … For resilient people, high levels of positive emotions exist side-by-side with negative emotions.” As Pi says in Life of Pi, “‘The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar.’

“When your mind starts soaring, you notice more and more positive things. This unleashes an upward spiral of positive emotions that opens people up to new ways of thinking and seeing the world — to new ways forward. This is yet another reason why positive people are resilient. They see opportunities that negative people don’t. Negativity, for adaptive reasons, puts you in defense mode, narrows your field of vision, and shuts you off to new possibilities since they’re seen as risks.”

Q: How optimistic do you think you are?