Live Your Truth, Grow Your Self-Worth

Living a happy life is everyone’s goal. Who doesn’t want to feel good about themselves? And yet so many of us live a life of self-doubt, feeling undeserving or incapable, or wishing we were walking another path.

 

However, living a happy life, being a happy person, is a matter of how you perceive yourself and your place in the world. You can “think yourself happy” by taking action, being honest about yourself, your patterns of thinking, and being open to your capacity to change. Self-knowledge is the key to living a happy life. And that means living your truth, not other people’s truth, or what society tells you is your truth. 

 

Socrates famously said that the unexamined life is not worth living. An ongoing process of self-analysis and self-examination leading to greater understanding and self-knowledge is also the basis for most of the world’s religions and belief systems for a good reason. If you don’t know who you are, you're not your true self in the world. If this is the case, you’re living a passive life, reacting to whatever comes along instead of taking control. Living unconsciously like this is living half asleep, and if you’re half asleep, you can’t be your best you.

 

Living an authentic life does not mean going off the grid. It does mean a daily practice of being honest about how you’re feeling and why, and reminding yourself that you are in control of how you feel. It means being clear about what your values and beliefs are – what “rules” you live your life by. Are your values yours, or have you absorbed them from other people in your life? Do they still fit with the life you want to lead? 

 

Five steps to living a more authentic life:

 

1.    Be clear about how you want your life to be right now and where you want to go. Understand and live by your values and beliefs. 

 

2.    Be aware of yourself and how you react and interact with other people, situations, events, the world.

 

3.    Set and maintain conscious boundaries. Be clear in your mind and be at peace with what you can and can’t control.

 

4.    Be okay with imperfection in yourself and others. Be objective about your weaknesses so that you can improve upon them without letting them get you down.

 

5.    Be kind and forgiving to yourself and others.

 

Living your truth means taking responsibility for your life and building a deep self-knowledge that will ultimately lead to contentment and happiness. 

 

Self-Sufficiency Promotes A Healthy Mindset

‘Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient.’ Aristotle.

 

A healthy mindset is the key to live a happy life. If you seek fulfillment or meaning, you have to do everything in your power to ensure that you adopt the right mindset. You must align your thoughts to what you want to achieve.

 

The greatest battle always occurs in the mind. What you allow in your mind determines whether you will succeed or fail. To have a chance to make significant accomplishments, you must be in control of thoughts and your emotions. You must be able to shut out negativity and distance yourself from anything that diminishes your confidence. It is only once you develop a positive attitude that you can win during life’s greatest battles. Only then can you have a healthy outlook on life, with the promise of endless possibilities.

 

Why you should be more reliant on yourself.

 

‘Self-sufficiency is a deep-rooted sense of completeness and stability.’ Dr. Steve Taylor.

 

Self-dependence weans you from being overly reliant on other people for your happiness and success. Being incapable of doing certain things for yourself gives other people too much power over you. It leaves you vulnerable. This is why people form unhealthy attachments to certain things or certain people. Never give people room to hurt or manipulate you by showing them that you cannot fully function without their help. Take responsibility for your life and make decisions that are best for you. You can take control of your life by acquiring skills that help you be more self-sufficient. 

 

For example, if you are too dependent on your partner in a romantic relationship, having them do everything for you, will be difficult for you to recover if that partner leaves your life. It is the same logic for reliance on drugs or alcohol. Once you remove them from the picture, you may fail to cope with certain things. If you are too dependent on your job, what happens when you get retrenched or when you cannot perform the duties you used to? What if the only solution available is resigning? What will you do then?

 

Self-sufficiency allows you to bounce back from any form of adversity. It may not prevent bad things from happening to you, but it gives you the strength to pick up the pieces and move on with your life. It gives you control over your emotions and how you react to negative circumstances. Above that, it helps you deal with failure more healthily. You get to be more compassionate and patient with yourself when you make mistakes, instead of beating yourself up and condemning yourself as a failure.

 

The link between independence and mental health.

 

Being confident makes you feel good about yourself. It boosts your self-worth when you know you can achieve anything you set your mind to. This promotes a healthy self-image. Instead of cowering back and living life in the shadows, you step out and do whatever it takes to make your mark.

 

Having that sense of self-worth and knowing that your life is meaningful promotes good mental health. The knowledge that you have the skills to make meaningful contributions in the workplace will make you confident to take on more tasks that challenge you. You become motivated to discover more of your potential. You volunteer to do the heavy lifting because you know that you have the strength for it. 

 

People who center their life on other people’s thoughts and opinions often pay for it mentally. They have little confidence in themselves and their abilities and often rely heavily on other people for guidance. This leaves them dissatisfied as they live according to other people’s standards instead of their own. Such people hardly make big decisions without consulting others, leaving room for self-doubt to rear its head. This leads to frustration and depression, as they fail to live up to their potential. It happens often that such people lose out on opportunities to do great things because they were more concerned with what people would think or say. 

 

Being self-reliant allows you the control you need over your destiny. You become bold enough to stand for what you believe in and cannot be swayed from your path. Even when the people around you doubt you, being self-sufficient gives you the confidence to give your most daunting dreams a shot. You take more risks, applying yourself to things that you would normally be too afraid to try. You do not give audience to the fears and insecurities of others when you have faith in your strength and capabilities. It is this attitude that leads to great accomplishments. It motivates you to aim higher and achieve more goals until success is a guarantee. 

 

Self-sufficiency has roots in self-acceptance. When you are sure of yourself and fully aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you learn to embrace who you are. Your shortcomings cease to make you feel inadequate. You develop a healthy self-image, viewing yourself as a person worth attention and respect. Self-love is a vital ingredient to overall health. Placing a high value on yourself teaches others to value you. 

 

Being self-sufficient contributes to your overall well-being. You develop a healthier image of yourself when you have control over your emotions, thoughts, decisions, and actions.

 

Being able to rely upon yourself- to admit that you and you alone handle your life- is a considerable step toward self-confidence and realizing your dreams. It is in your best interest, as it promotes a healthy mindset.

 

Accountability: A Key Function Of A Great Leader

Accountability is defined by Merriam-Webster as “...an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.” This trait of taking responsibility has been and will always be a key function of a great leader. The reason for this is taking accountability is not an easy thing to do. It is easy to claim our actions that have positive outcomes. 

 

But when something we do results in negatives, it can be tempting to not accept responsibility for it. Being accountable also involves holding others accountable. 

 

When others make mistakes or are not moving in the right direction, it is the responsibility of great leaders to hold those individuals accountable for their actions. It might be hard or embarrassing to address these faults, but a great leader pushes through and accepts responsibility regardless. 

 

Throughout history, the best and greatest leaders have shown accountability.

 

One great example of this is Eleanor Roosevelt. Throughout her life, including but not limited to her time as the first lady, Roosevelt worked hard to bring equality to all people and hold those in power accountable for this equality. History.com discusses her many achievements and actions. 

 

“During World War II (1939-1945), Roosevelt advocated on behalf of European refugees who wanted to come to the United States. She also promoted issues that were important to American troops, worked to boost soldiers’ morale, encouraged volunteerism on the home front and championed women employed in the defense industry. She also pushed for the continuation of New Deal programs during the war, against the wishes of some of her husband’s advisors...Eleanor Roosevelt famously resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) when it barred African American singer Marian Anderson from performing at its Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.”

 

Using her political position, Roosevelt made sure that all people from refugees, to troops, to women were getting what they needed. Roosevelt continued to do this in many other ways such as getting more women federal positions and holding press conferences for female reporters. 

 

She also supported the civil rights movement. Because of this support, in the 1960s a $25,000 bounty was put on her head by the KKK. 

 

Later in life, Roosevelt became a part of the U.N. in the first U.S. delegation. During this time, she gave the speech “The Struggle for Human Rights.” This speech urged for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be passed. Roosevelt also served on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and was part of the Peace Corps, in addition to the U.N.

 

Roosevelt is an example of a great leader who showed accountability.

 

As the first lady, she had the most power a woman could really have in the United States at that time. She used her position to make sure that everyone else was being treated equally and fairly. She held her husband and his associates to a high standard. She held clubs and organizations to a high standard too.

 

When they didn't meet her expectations, she worked to change them. While previous first ladies had used their position to be the white house’s hostesses, Roosevelt used it to help create equality for everyone in the country. 

 

Being a leader is hard but being a great leader is incredibly difficult. When we see someone throughout history or in current events doing a good job leading, it is smart to observe what they are doing and why. 

 

Roosevelt lifted up the people who were the lowest on the totem pole. She held those who were in power to higher standards. She is a great example of why a key function to being a good leader is accountability.

 

Learn From Great Leaders: The Benefits Of Having An Open Mind

For every individual, no matter their position, there are benefits to having an open mind. For leaders, there are definitely benefits as having an open mind allows them to become better leaders. One example of a leader who made changes to his viewpoints is Abraham Lincoln. 

 

Lincoln is considered a great leader of the United States because of what he accomplished while he was president. He issued the Emancipation proclamation and granted freedom to slaves. He also helped start the rebuilding of the country after the civil war. 

 

Although he helped give United States’ slaves their freedom, according to history.com, he wasn’t always so sure on the proper course of action. “Abraham Lincoln did believe that slavery was morally wrong, but there was one big problem: It was sanctioned by the highest law in the land, the Constitution...he didn’t know exactly what should be done about it within the current political system.”

 

Over time, he realized what had to be done. Although there were many reasons for freeing the slaves, he gave them their freedom even though it went against the Constitution, something that had been previously very problematic for him.

 

Lincoln learned to expand his beliefs by having a more open mind. There are many benefits that he received because of his changes of beliefs and having an open mind. Because of Lincoln’s actions, he is highly regarded for starting to pave the path for equality for African Americans. Lincoln is featured on the United States’ currency and there are multiple memorials dedicated to him. 

 

Throughout the rest of Lincoln’s presidency after the end of the civil war, he continued to change in his thinking in actions and become more and more accepting of African Americans and their place in the states. If Lincoln had not had an open mind and had stuck with the Constitution, he would not be the revered man that he is today.

 

Although it can be hard to have an open mind and to look at opinions that are different from yours, there are many benefits to it. 

 

Seeing multiple angles and sides of things allows you to be a better leader. 

 

If you can relate to your people and understand how they feel and what they think, you will be able to better serve them. Those following you will be much more willing to sing your praises if you are able to help them in the way that they need. 

 

Are you having trouble having a more open mind? It’s all about attitude. You need to allow yourself the opportunity to open your mind. Opening your mind doesn’t mean immediately changing your beliefs. Instead, you are looking at all the facts and alternative opinions. 

 

You are not immediately disregarding anything that doesn’t fit with what you think. Instead, consider these other ideas and compare them to your own thoughts.

 

It is very easy to remain close-minded and stick to our old thoughts and beliefs.

 

But this world is ever-changing and it needs us to change with it. As a leader, it is important to understand these changes, even if you don’t agree with all of them. The people you are leading might relate to these changes or be a large part of them. 

 

Being able to connect with them or understand where they are coming from is extremely important. Just like Lincoln was able to adapt and make changes for his people which lead to wonderful things for the United States, other great leaders around you will do so as well as they utilize their open-mindedness. 

 

Learn From Great Leaders: The Benefits Of Responsibility And Dependability

Responsibility and dependability are two things that carry a lot of weight. When you are responsible for someone or something, you are the overseer of it. It is your job to take care of it until that responsibility is shifted away from you.

 

When you are dependable, others can count on you to keep your word and follow through with your actions. While these two things require a lot of work and effort, they also come with some benefits. A quick look into history can help demonstrate the benefits that came with the addition of responsibility and dependability for one man.

 

Before the United States was its own country, it was a group of states that was still ruled by Great Britain. During this time, George Washington was starting his life on his own. He began his military experience by serving and being a commander in the French and Indian War.

 

Years later, he ended up becoming an integral part of the Revolutionary War through his previous military experience and political position. After being named commander in chief of the Continental Army, he began the long task of gaining independence for the states.

 

History.com discusses Washington and his history. It says that “Washington proved to be a better general than military strategist. His strength lay not in his genius on the battlefield but in his ability to keep the struggling colonial army together...His leadership during the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge was a testament to his power to inspire his men to keep going.” When the war ended, Washington was declared a national hero. 

 

After signing the peace treaty, Washington gave up his position and returned to his home, excited to get back to his crops and plantation. However, the new country had different plans. 

 

Washington had become so popular during the war that he was the first choice for the new presidential seat. He eventually took the position and served two terms as president. After serving as president, he finally returned to his home where he lived the rest of his life, dying just a few years later at 67 years of age. 

 

Throughout Washington’s life, he carried a large amount of responsibility and showed his dependability. 

 

Because of how well he led the soldiers to victory and independence, he was given the benefit of the first choice for the presidential seat of the new country. Had Washington done poorly during his time in the war, this would have not been the case. 

 

Because of this, he is now a highly regarded individual in the United States. As the first president, his face is on our currency both paper and coin. There are many buildings and other monuments dedicated to his name. He is celebrated on his birthday every year and he is studied in all history classes. 

 

While being the first president wasn't what Washington originally intended to do with his time after the war, it ended up being a great reward for his hard work during the war as well as providing an increase in responsibility that has led to him being so revered.

 

While taking on responsibilities and being dependable in your own life will probably not lead to monuments being built in your name, there are benefits to showing and acting on these good qualities while you are leading. 

 

Washington is just one of the many examples of great leaders who show that you reap what you sow. When you put in the work and take your position seriously, good things will come out of it. 

 

The Best Leaders Thrive Through Struggle And Adversity

It is easy to be a leader in the good times. When there are no problems or conflicts there is nothing challenging you or forcing you to change and grow. However, the best leaders are able to thrive through struggles and adversity. 

 

A great example of a leader that thrived in struggles and adversity is Nelson Mandela. 

 

The nelsonmandela.org website discusses his life and influence. Mandela was a great leader in South Africa who worked to help the country get out from under the previous government’s hold. He was very involved in the country's politics and he consistently worked to begin the necessary changes. He helped with protests, strikes, and led an armed struggle.

 

For his actions, Mandela was jailed multiple times with the final time being for twenty-four years. Once he was finally released, he immediately threw himself back into the political field. 

 

Four years after leaving prison, Mandela became the first democratically elected president of South Africa. “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Quote by Nelson Mandela from his speech from the Dock on April 20, 1964.

 

A large part of what made Mandela such a great leader was all the troubles his country was going through. If there had been better leaders in power, he might not have gotten into politics or made it as far as he did. 

 

Even after being in prison for a large part of his adult life, every time he was released, he would be in the midst of things once more, attempting to make positive changes. Mandela's motivation to make things better for his people was his driving force but the trials that he went through only amplified his results. 

 

In your own life, you will witness many leaders. Most of them will go through struggles and adversity. Some of the problems will be because of their leadership position while other issues could be caused by personal or other problems. The best leaders will thrive and make it through these tribulations while the weaker leaders will not. 

 

In your own life, while you are in the midst of troubles, it can be very tempting to quit or give up. 

 

However, consider those in your life who need you to be strong and continue on. Your family, friends, and coworkers rely on you, to some degree. If you are in a leadership position, it is especially important that you continue on. Use the tribulations to your benefit. Allow them to inspire you to keep working and press on harder.

 

When looking at history, the most revered leaders were noticed in times of trouble. Wars and other political problems help bring out the best leaders to the foreground as they deal with problems that have possibly never occurred prior to that moment. 

 

Mandela is a great example of this. In different circumstances, he might have been just a normal guy. The world might have never known his name. 

 

Life will always provide difficulties and new problems.

 

The best thing to do is to keep moving forward and working hard. Look at the leaders in your life and see how they deal with struggles. What do they do when new problems arrive? Some people have more experience with handling difficulties but it can always be good to see what others would do in your place and how to strive through struggles and adversity.

 

Strategic Thinking 101

Being strategic is all about planning ahead, focusing on your goal, and taking steps to get to it. It is important to consider all angles and their possible negative outcomes. Being prepared for anything to go wrong and having a few backup plans is always helpful. 

 

By focusing on strategic thinking, you are making a strategy to get to an end goal. Throughout history, some of the most revered strategic thinkers were political or military leaders. Some examples of some strategic individuals include Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Jeff Bezos. 

 

Let’s consider an example to explore strategic thinking. You are a high school student and you are planning to sell cookies at the school bake sale. You want your cookies to be the preferred choice and sell more than any other item. Now that you have a goal, you need to get your strategy together. 

 

Consider your assets. You need to have good cookies. If your cookies only look good, you might get some sales but no return customers. In order to have good cookies, you need to either make or buy good cookies. 

 

This means that you might be spending some time improving your cooking skills by taking classes, seeking out a tutor, and practicing. Not only do you need to know how to bake them, but you need good ingredients. By buying very good baking products, your cookies will taste better. Once you have determined the best time to make the cookies before the sale, your assets are covered. Now to consider the next part.

 

Consider your consumers. What type of cookies are the most popular amongst the students and staff? If you cook some really great oatmeal cookies, but no one likes oatmeal, you won’t get very many sales. Do some research to figure out what product might be best. You can ask your peers or have them sample a few of your cookies to see what they like. Take their preferences into consideration. Once you know what cookies they like, you need to market. 

 

If the bake sale is not already well marketed, you will need to help it out. It is very hard to sell cookies if no one is there to buy them. Putting up some flyers, talking about it to your friends, and posting on social media is a great place to start.

 

Bring a few sample cookies around and inform everyone who tries them that more can be purchased at the sale. As you finish preparing for the sale, you could consider your competitors, your presentation of the cookies, how to handle rescheduling dates, and more. Now you are ready to sell those cookies. 

 

In the previously explored exercise of bake sale cookies, there are many things to plan out and many steps to take in order to increase the possible positive results of the high school baker. This is just a small-scale glance into strategic thinking. 

 

Napoleon Bonaparte’s strategizing was most likely very different from Jeff Bezos.’ Every situation will be different when coming up with a strategy but every part of it is based around planning and action. Strategies involve having set ideas in place that can be followed in certain circumstances.

 

When coming up with your own strategy, make sure to consider all angles. You are forming a road to your goal and you want to make sure that you get there. Anticipate your opponent’s moves, plan for reactions, and counterstrategies.

Take plenty of time to think through your plan and ideas. Don’t rush or get distracted when working on your strategy. With plenty of time and practice, you can become a master at creating strategies. 

 

When Knowledge Knocks, How Do You Answer the Door?

A proverb aptly written said, “Knowledge knocks at the door of action. If it receives a reply it stays, if it doesn’t it departs.” When was the last time you answered the door to knowledge and put it into action in your life? 

 

We are bombarded every day with knowledge. Most of it is beneficial or useful and we read it and appreciate its wisdom. Often however, our busy lives drown out the useful information we learn and we forget it before we have time to put it into action in our life. We miss many useful like skills when we fail to action our knowledge and its worth taking a few minutes to think about knowledge that is beneficial and can even improve our quality of life.

 

In your journal, take time to think about ten concepts or ideas that have recently captivated your imagination and interest. It can be something fictional or non-fictional, something current or something from history. As your curiosity is excited when you think or write about these things, take time to explore them and dig deeper into learning about them. Don’t waste the spark interest, but let it ignite thirst for knowledge and personal growth. 

 

The potential for gaining benefit in doing this extends much further than just in identifying what interests you. If you believe that what you are learning would benefit you or your family, and then try to put them into action immediately in some way in your life. 

 

In your journal, consider exploring the things that interest you in a broader way. Identify any common concepts that might connect each area that interests you. Are they health related, or are they parenting related? As you look for the common connection, you will discover where your natural interests lie, and these may guide you to explore courses or other options to turn your interests into something that may turn out to be financially useful. 

 

Don’t forget to review what you are learning regularly so you don’t forget what you have read and what you have learned. Add to it regularly and keep records of what you do with that knowledge. Share the knowledge you gain with friends, even if you choose not to formally study it. Wisdom is described as applied knowledge. Knowledge that is not applied is wisdom lost and is wasted knowledge. 

 

Experience Your Emotions; Don’t Be Led by Them

Jackie M Johnston once asked her audience. “Have you learned to tell the difference between “experiencing your feelings and being led by them”? The answer to this question is very individual and one each of us must ask ourselves. We cannot become holistically whole people if we don’t answer this question with an instant “yes”!

 

We cannot begin to act and think positively until we have learned to experience and deal with our feelings, without being pulled down by them. Most people are led by their “gut instincts” when making decisions. How people feel about something often dictates whether they do it or not, or enjoy doing it or not. They may even choose not to do something because of how they feel about it. 

 

The issue with this type of reaction is that it is deeply rooted in the emotions and not in logic, although logic and our feelings may lead us to the same conclusion. This is what is meant by “experiencing your feelings” Have you learned to tell the difference between “experiencing your feelings and being led by them? .Experiencing your feelings, enables you to rise above consider your feelings about something, but then logically decide what action to take. 

 

This is particularly important if have an argument with a spouse or teenage child. It is very easy to be led by feelings as the argument becomes more heated. A wise spouse or parent, on recognizing and understanding the increased feelings of frustration and anger welling up inside them, will suggest time out to give each person time and space to think and respond logically rather than emotionally.

 

Learning to differentiate between our acting on our feelings and understanding how they can help or hinder our actions and our reactions is essential to achieving positive thinking. Negative feelings can hold us hostage to ourselves and to never achieving anything in our life. We don’t feel happy or contented with what we have, so we strive for more. We feel depressed so we isolate ourselves from others or we over eat. We feel angry so we take it out on in our attitudes with our children or our spouse. 

 

As we learn to channel our negative thoughts and feelings into more positive decision-making, we are able to use them to help us choose behaviours but we don’t let them dictate our actions without first challenging them by thinking through alternative options that can affect positively on our lives and the choice we make. 

How to Know the Real You

To a very large extent knowing yourself requires you to understand aspirations both physical, the spiritual values, the emotional values and even understanding of the spiritual and knowing how you can attain all these life requirements. If you come to an understanding of all these aspects of life, then you are on the path to self-discovery. This is what brings lifelong peace in our lives, making it a joyful life and you will be contented in all aspects. 

 

We all at one point in our lives get knowledge, develop our talent and skills that in one way or another make our lives comfortable. In spite of all these we stand ignorant about what we need spiritually. We tend to ignore the spiritual bit of life which is always hidden though it is of great essence. This can largely be attributed to the reason of our unhappy and disturbed life.

 

The first step to self-discovery is by having a look at the needs of the soul and try feeling its need. We need to come to terms with the fact that self is not the physical body that we are seeing each and every day. It is but the inner us comprising of our soul. Since time immemorial we have always been told of our soul being immortal and it tends to pass from body to body.

 

Always remain in connection with yourself by trying to draw attention to what lies on the external. Avoid distractions from the outside. On a number of occasions we tend to focus our attention to meeting of external desires which to a large extent are insatiable. Satisfaction of one leads to the coming of another. Our lives are deeply engrossed to our lives, we are always busy with the hustles and bustles of life and at the end of the dour we remain malnourished from the inside. Our soul is starved. 

 

Consider taking time to meditate. This practice can make us come to terms with our true essence. It can bring light to our real self. Ensure that you are always connected the soul by simply drawing away from external and material desires.

 

Another way to self-realization is having contentment in life. When we are contented we tend to get some time to or have an ample time to have a deep insight in to our lives. We drift our attention and start focusing on such aspects like love, honesty and life sacrifices. We become contented by having love with others. When we start sacrificing ourselves for others, sharing other people’s worries and anxieties and having them as our own.

 

Enjoy Your Life: Change Your Point of View

"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 joy and 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 unfavourably. 

 

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 endeavours? 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?