Optimism – define it as you like, but in general it’s about hope, confidence, positivity and the expectation of a good outcome. Are you an optimist? A glass half-full kind of person? Perspective.
Is the cloud cover disappointing or fabulously interesting? Camel’s Hump 9/2019
Pausing for a moment, let me suggest that we are not talking about a Pollyanna, nor are we talking about the person who claims he or she has never had a problem or the couple that has never had an argument. You’ve heard that, right? No, we are talking about the person who rides the highs and lows of daily life anticipating that the mixture of challenges and successes serve to enrich the overall quality of one’s life and that in the long run, a positive outcome is possible. Perhaps an optimist simply finds nuggets of good buried in the messy business of living in a flawed world and assumes that those nuggets will ultimately grow to satisfy all needs, wants and hopes. Or perhaps the optimist is one who truly believes he or she can be an effective part of the solutions so sorely needed. Vision.
Mist or Magic? Mt. Abe, July 2019
Looking at optimism from a health and fitness perspective, it’s easy to see how a positive attitude, a willingness to put the effort into caring for one’s body through exercise, nutrition and appropriate lifestyle choices, improves the odds of dealing optimistically with health or performance trials that are sure to appear along life’s journey.
Of course, reason also factors in. It would be unfair to embolden an average runner, for example, by saying “of course you can qualify for Boston,” when the poor athlete has only run a community 5k; or to dangerously send someone off ill-equipped or unprepared on any adventure with the tired assurance of “oh, you’ll be fine.” But, and this is a big BUT, if you define a goal – even one that seems a bit of a reach – and pursue that goal intelligently, mindfully and with a huge chunk of energy and determination, expecting good results, then to be sure you are guaranteed an encouraging journey with results that far surpass not having tried or slogging through.
Much of this is common sense. Now, let’s look at the longevity issue. Just days ago a study was published that puts teeth into the claim that optimism actually does something great, in fact, it contributes to longevity. Moreover, as optimism contributes to extended years, clearly, quality of life is affected and those added years are good ones. Significantly, this study is no slouch. We’re talking research based on 69,744 women over 10 years and 1,429 men over 30 years. Be sure to go to: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190826150700.htm
Perhaps the Dalai Lama XIV put it all in perspective when he said: “Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.” Now it’s your turn. What do you think?
