What makes one Optimistic and Why one becomes Pessimistic

Sometimes one needs just that little dose of fairy dust to keep oneself come out of the blues – that small bit of the `x’ factor which will keep one away from depression and anxiety. On other occasions, it is just a wisp of a push that gets us spiralling down into an abyss of negativity and pessimism – that we are so much in the doldrums that we get into a microcosm of sadness and unhappiness with a trigger which by itself may not be of much magnitude.

Some believe it is the way we were brought up.

Why does it happen this way? What is it that makes one optimistic or pessimistic? Many believe that this has some sort of connection with the way we were brought up. Happy parents make happy children, is what is usually said.

Tension and anxiety in the home makes children edgy and nervous even as adults. Also that if there is laughter and mirth around us, we tend to be more secure. On the flip side, if there are fights and quarrels happening all the time, the children are bound to get affected and end up as unsure, under-confident individuals who lack self-esteem or substantial willpower.

Optimism and pessimism breed more of themselves.

What is really, really certain is that both optimism and pessimism, like touched on before, breed more of themselves. Confidence rubs off on others. If you have someone positive beside you, it will tend to make you feel all pepped up and zippy as well.

On the other hand, if someone is constantly cribbing about something or the other, you too will feel sapped of your energy quotients. Do you not find yourself say – Oh God! Stop complaining – to someone who thinks of you as a complaint register?

And, don’t you feel drawn to someone who is chirping along all the way thinking of all that the good Lord has bestowed upon him or her?

Think positive, have happy thoughts.

What is important is that one should constantly remind ourselves to be grateful to the universe for all that it has given us. Humility and gratitude in our minds, thoughts and prayers are essential to keep our entities and souls full of happiness. Of course, there will be times when we are down in the dumps. But if we pull ourselves together and think of the positive vibe which has come along with what went wrong, or the lesson we have learnt from this particular event, we can smile again.

Again, we come back to the same old theory – is the glass half empty or is it half full? It is easy to say that the glass is half full, but difficult to believe it. At times such as these, try to train your mind to keep away from something that saps you of vital energy. Make a conscious decision to think happy thoughts and automatically you will see the good in place of the bad.

Affirmations work, try them out.

A small tip to keep yourself going, when the going gets tough, is to write down affirmations on a piece of paper and stick in your room in a spot where you can see it each day. Write down little something notes like “I am much loved” or “My mother says I am the best person in the whole wide world” or even a simple message like “God loves Me.”

You will not realise it but at a gut level, even mind tricks like these work. Just seeing such encryptions like these will lift you into another zone where your troubles will fade away.