Learned Optimism

Learned Optimism The Book by Dr. Martin Seligman

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One of the Keys to Happiness

What is Optimism?

Scientist Dr. Martin Seligman, one of the founders of the field of positive psychology, and the author of the book Learned Optimism, defines optimism as the ability to find temporary reasons for failure and permanent reasons for success. For example, if an optimistic person applies for a job and doesn’t get it they might say to themselves that the job they lost just wasn’t the right fit for them and a better opportunity is just around the corner, whereas a pessimistic person might say to themselves that they are unpopular, or stupid and they will never get a job. When the same people get the job they want, the optimistic person will say to themselves that they got the job they wanted because they are smart and good with people while the pessimistic person will say that they just got lucky that one time or it was because they knew the right person.

At the root of learned optimism is another key to happiness;

It is not so much what happens to us, but what we think about it that determines our level of happiness.

Dr. Seligman’s research showed that people that learned optimism learned to become aware of their own thoughts and dispute them. At the moment I learn that I didn’t get the job, I might catch myself saying I’ve never been good with people and I’m stupid. I’ll never get a job. At that point, I might catch myself and think, well, never is a strong word. After all, I’ve already had a couple jobs in my life and I do have a few close friends.

Tips for Learning to be More Optimistic

1. Write down your thoughts when you are feeling sad and blue. Often we talk to ourselves so quickly, we don’t consciously hear what we tell ourselves, we just react.
2. Talk with someone else about how you are feeling. Often just hearing ourselves can help us see our thought patterns
3. Ask an optimist to help you dispute your thoughts. About a third of the population naturally thinks in optimistic patterns. These people will tend to find positive evidence in the face of other’s failure as a way of cheering the other person up. This method also works well because human beings learn by imitating others.
4. Look for absolute words like never and always. Sometimes just replacing these words with less extreme words like rarely and often can change the way you see a situation.
5. Ask yourself questions like when have I succeeded, what did I do then. The human brain likes to answer questions. Often you can change your whole train of thought just by asking a different question.

Whether you are a natural optimist or pessimist, you can be happier now by learning to tune in to your own thoughts and refocus them on the enduring reasons for success and the random reasons for failure.

You might also be interested in and in Regain Your Enthusiasm How to Quickly Build Your Enthusiasm for Life or for a Special Project or Habit.

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