Ep 3 Did you know OPTIMISM can be learned?

Did you know optimism can be learned?  Do you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist?

l highly recommend listening up because you are going to want to be identified as an optimist when you hear the following:

There is a great deal of research documenting that Optimists are happier and more successful academically, athletically, professionally, and socially. Optimists do better and are healthier. Optimistic thinking is a huge advantage in this rapidly changing world.

Here’s the cool part- Optimism is a learned skill that can be taught and practiced.

According to Martin Seligman, founder of Positive Psychology, optimists explain life’s events differently than pessimists do.  Pessimists take negative things that happen to them personally, while optimists find them unlikely to happen again.

For example, a pessimist trips on the sidewalk and thinks: "I'm so clumsy – I'm always tripping everywhere and now I look stupid." She sees the cause of her fall as a personality trait.

On the other hand, the optimist thinks: "Dang! Someone oughtta fix that crack in the sidewalk!" She's thinking that a flaw in the sidewalk, not her own inherent clumsiness, caused her to trip.

Be aware of your mind chatter. How do you respond when something negative happens? Are you critical of yourself or of the situation? Do you beat yourself up or do you say, “oops coulda happened to anybody.”?

And if you catch yourself with a pessimistic thought,  are you able to turn it around. It’s ok if it doesn't come naturally- it takes practice. 

Thank you for watching the video. You too can be a change agent to increase happiness in the world by sharing these quick tips and tools to happiness with your network. So please pass these on to others.

Find more tips for raising happy kids at http://greatergood.berkeley.edu

See you in a minute,