I am an unapologetic optimist. Some would go as far as suggesting I am either naïve, misguided or willfully blind. I recently came across a statement that concisely captured my hopeful view of life and our times:
Optimism is the best bet for most people because the world tends to get better for most people most of the time. But pessimism holds a special place in our hearts. Pessimism isn’t just more common than optimism. It also sounds smarter. It’s intellectually captivating, and it pays more attention than optimism, which is often viewed as being oblivious to risk. Real optimists don’t believe that everything will be great. That’s complacency. Optimism is a belief that the odds of a good outcome are in your favor over time, even when there will be setbacks along the way. The simple idea that most people wake up in the morning trying to make things a little better and more productive than waking up looking to cause trouble is the foundation of optimism. It’s not complicated. It’s not guaranteed, either. It’s just the most reasonable bet for most people, most of the time. The late statistician Hans Rosling put it differently: “I am not an optimist. I am a very serious possibilist.”"*
Media organizations are opposed to optimism. It doesn’t sell ads, headlines or generate attention. The news maxim “If it bleeds, it leads” encourages viewers to become spectators of horror. Life can be reduced to a gladiator sport. Add to this pessimistic perspective the violent entertainment that glorifies and seeks to normalize dysfunctional behaviors and lifestyles, and any sense of promise is derailed. However, if reality is based on real data, percentages or rates, then crime, war, poverty, illness, inequity, premature deaths, severe illness and other troubling measures are in serious decline. The reason the amounts are so high is that there are so many humans alive today and the news-cycle bias always dwells on the negative.
A fundamental wellness emotion is hopefulness. The sense that your tomorrow can be a marginal improvement over today makes getting up in the morning more purposeful. If you consider the statistics, the likelihood or probability of positive (or neutral) outcomes far exceeds negative results. The odds strongly favour positive outcomes. Actively and willingly become an optimist, positivist, probabilist or possibilist: it is good for your soul and your wellness.
Reflection Source: www.Smallercup.org
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*: The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel