How Optimistic Are You? The Science Behind Our Better Outlooks

Manasi Kulkarni
4 min readSep 30, 2021

In today’s era, life has become so hasty and fast that is it quite unlikely and difficult to predict the future of our emotional status and accordingly our plans and mental health. It is one thing to say “Be Optimistic” and a whole different thing to actually “Behave like an Optimist”. To understand the actual science behind why and how we feel what we feel in our daily lives is very important and necessary to keep our unsteady minds calm and cool amidst the chaos of the world.

The Logic Behind Our Mood

Our thought process is such that it actually influences the way we feel. When you feel sad or negative about the world or for yourself, you actually also feel low and gloomy about yourself. When you feel happy about the world, you actually feel more positive and upbeat about yourself. Positive mental attitude is also called “Ego Personality”. Negative feeling and emotion are very closely related to the biological need of the brain to regulate its homeostatic functions.

The Science Behind Our Mood

When we deal with hard times or even just when we come across things that could possibly make our mind go through turbulent times, our emotional state will change. We are always going to have these different mood swings even though we might deal with a lot of better things in our lives now. Well, It’s All About The Brain. Our nervous system works so efficiently that the above way of thinking is actually carried by our brain. Whenever we feel these different mood swings that may bring our mind down, it’s actually very natural as we are living in this fast paced world. We are constantly inundated with life’s challenges and obstacles and naturally, we need to have a new outlook for them.

Optimism and Pessimism

Pessimism is a single trait that the human population seems to possess. A single scale that contains up to eight percent, pessimists are a normal part of the world and world population. However, optimism comes in many different forms and not all of the cases are perfect and sane. This means that there is a huge variety of different individuals who share optimism, which means that there are tons of different types of optimists who have their own level of pessimism and vice versa. Among the various types of optimists and pessimists, you have some who are natural and have a natural propensity to display their pessimistic side.

What Is Optimism?

Optimism or the state of mind of viewing the world as a positive outcome of your actions and abilities, including personal character traits, wealth and the like. Optimism is the expectation of a favorable outcome when the opposite would normally occur. There exists a very broad definition of this phrase, but it’s what is actually believed by the majority of people around the world. What Is Depression? Depression is a severe feeling of sadness that affects a person’s ability to function normally and find meaning in their day to day life. Depression is a very debilitating condition that does not come with a cure. Depression is a disease in itself and something that people with depression cannot really control, nor should they try. Depression often causes severe suicidal thoughts.

How to Be More Optimistic

Psychologists in Britain have identified four main factors that make us feel more optimistic. These include : Our motivation to get things done : Given the high rate of pressure, stress and anxiety in today’s world, most of us tend to overwork ourselves. Motivation, while not necessarily making things easy, makes it smoother for us to face tm with resolve. This kind of determination will put us on a much more advanced path towards being optimistic and perhaps even enjoying life!

Positivity and Gratitude

A popular saying in the world of psychology is that “Good is the enemy of Perfect”. As much as we’d like to have good everywhere about us, it is always impossible to attain. However, a lesson from the world of psychology is that “Perfection is the enemy of Good”. This way, we become more conscious of ourselves as humans and find the good in each and every situation. This attitude helps to keep us in the “Optimism Zone”. It’s All About How You Measure Your Optimism.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” — Mahatma Gandhi

In today’s world, with the majority of the people being consumerists and highly materialistic, we’re often given the wrong impression about how optimistic we should be.

Conclusion

You might want to read some of the articles on this site which will definitely help you a lot in finding some direction. All you have to do is simply do the important things, simple things, things that make you feel good and help you be proud of yourself. Because when you start doing self-appreciative things, you will indeed feel good about yourself, and when you feel good about yourself, the rest will follow.

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Manasi Kulkarni
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Engineer by Profession, Vivid reader by Choice, Dominant by Nature, Writer by Choice!