"The way we think, especially about health, changes our health" Martin E.P.Seligman, Phd

segunda-feira, março 30, 2015 David Barradas 0 Comments

The optimists and the pessimists: I have been studying them for the past twenty-five years. The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case. The optimists believe defeat is not their fault: Circumstances, bad luck, or other people brought about. Such people are unfazed by defeat. Confronted by a bad situation, they perceive it as a challenge and try harder.

Learned Optimism: Martin Seligman on Happiness, Depression, and the Meaningful Life

Harvard psychologist Laura Kubzansky has chosen to study optimism. In a large study she tracked 1,300 men for 10 years and found that heart-disease rates among men who called themselves optimistic were half the rates for men who didn't. The differences between the two groups was as dramatic as that seen between smokers and non smokers.

Some ideas:

“Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

“I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”
― Antonio Gramsci, Gramsci's Prison Letters

Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous.”
― Hyman G. Rickover

“Optimists think badly, but live well.”
― Marty Rubin

My take, obviously optimists are happier than pessimists. The question is can optimism be thought ? apparently Martin Seligman believes that is the case. I will report.

One thing makes a big difference is to think nothing is permanent and this i know it's true. everything changes.