OPTIMISM

Keep looking up; that’s the secret of life

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have to believe that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning”

– Mahatma Gandhi

 

 

What does this statement mean? It actually means that you are what you believe you are. This statement can be applied to the optimism that thinking more positive can lead you to be happier and healthier. But what is optimism? And is that true that optimism can make you feel happy and healthy?

Optimism comes from the Latin word optimus, meaning “best,” which describes how an optimistic person is always looking for the best in any situation and expecting good things to happen. Optimism is the tendency to believe, expect or hope that things will turn out well. Even if something bad happens, like the loss of a job, an optimist sees the silver lining.

 

 

Optimism also describes how optimists are always looking for the best in every situation and hoping and expecting and seeing that things will turn out well in the future. Even if some bad situation occurs, they will look at that situation as the experience. The experience which helps them not to do the same mistake over again. And yes! It is true that optimism can make you feel happier and healthier. There is the study of Martin Seligma supporting the idea that optimists are happier and healthier by showing that they tend to take care of their health, to build better social network and to face the difficulty without any worries.

Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people who believes that mental, physical, and spiritual health are connected to an optimistic attitude. How? He has said that when some disastrous situation happens, the most important thing is how you look at that problem. Negative? Or positive? If you look at it as negative, then when the negative emotions are fully developed, you will become their slave, and you will have a bad attitude toward every situation. If you look at it as positive, it means that there is still hope in that disastrous situation. If you look at it as positive, then you will cheer yourself up not to give up, not to fear, to move on, to fight, to feel good. Thus there is still hope in every situation only if you look at it as the positive or as experience or a lesson to guide you to a better future. From Dalai Lama’s teaching, he actually indicates clearly that if you have a positive mind or thinking, your life will be easier to move on. I have said so much about the definition and some research, so now let’s take a look at the famous story from Mahabharatha on staying positive.

 

A woman who brought back her husband’s life with her intellect and optimism.

 

Savitri was the beautiful daughter of a wise and powerful king. The fame of Savitri’s beauty spread far and wide, but she refused to marry, saying that she would herself go out in the world and find a husband for herself. So the king chose the best warriors to protect her, and the princess wandered throughout the country searching for a prince of her choice.

One day she reached a dense forest, where dwelt a king who had lost his kingdom and fallen into his bad days. Old and blind he lived in a small hut with his wife and son. The son, who was a handsome young prince, was the sole comfort of his parents. He chopped wood and sold it in the countryside, and bought food for his parents, and they lived in love and happiness.

Savitri was strongly drawn towards them, and she knew her search had come to an end. Savitri fell in love with the young prince, who was called Satyavan and was known for his legendary generosity.

Hearing that Savitri has chosen a penniless prince, her father was heavily downcast. But Savitri was hell-bent on marrying Satyavan. The king consented, but a saint informed him that a fatal curse laid upon the young prince: He is doomed to die within a year. The king told her daughter about the curse and asked her to choose someone else. But Savitri refused and stood firm in her determination to marry the same prince. The king finally agreed with a heavy heart.

The wedding of Savitri and Satyavan took place with a lot of fanfare, and the couple went back to the forest hut. For a whole year, they lived happily. On the last day of the year, Savitri rose early and when Satyavan picked up his axe to go into the forest to chop wood she requested him to take her along, and the two went into the jungle.

Towards noon Satyavan felt a little tired, and after a while, he came and lay down resting his head in Savitri’s lap. Suddenly the whole forest grew dark, and soon Savitri saw a tall figure standing before her. It was Yama, the God of Death. “I have come to take your husband,” said Yama, and looked down at Satyavan, as his soul left his body.

When Yama comes to claim his body and soul, Savitri refuses to leave her husband and follows the god of Death. Yama repeatedly tells her to go back and each time, she argues with him, extolling first, the virtues of obedience to dharma and then, the company of good people. Eventually, she praises Yama himself, wielder of the rod of punishment, dispenser of justice.

Yama is impressed not only with her devotion to her husband but also by her intellect. Each time she defeats him with one of her arguments, he offers her a boon — any boon except the return of her husband’s life.

First, Savitri asks that her father-in-law’s sight be restored, then she asks that his kingdom be returned to him. And finally, she asks Yama that she be the mother of a hundred sons. Yama is happy to grant her that until he realises that the boon cannot be fulfilled unless Satyavan comes back to life as her husband. He admits defeat and Satyavan wakes as if from a deep sleep.

It is evident that Yama restored Satyavan’s life only because Savitri was so devoted and positive, she was willing to follow her husband even into the realms of the dead. It was this single optimistic virtue, more than any other that compelled the God of Death to acquiesce into her demand.

She defeated him with her arguments and with a cleverly worded boon — it is her iron will, her intellect and her optimism that Yama honours when he gives Satyavan back.

Being an optimist is not hard to do at all. Also, the result of it is the treasure in your life. The very first thing you have to know about being an optimist is that being an optimist does not mean ignoring the problem, but it means hoping that things will change to be a better one in the future. So here are some ideas for you to follow.

 

Find opportunity in every difficulty:

 

The first idea is to find the opportunity in every difficulty. What does it mean? It means that what you are dealing with might be difficult, but it is important to remain hopeful and positive about a brighter in that difficulty.

 

Surround yourself with positive people:

Second idea is to surround yourself with positive people because the circumstances matter! If you’re surrounded by negative people, there is a highly chance of you to be negative people. So being surrounded by positive people is much more make sense to increase your chance of being positive.

 

Inspire yourself with a smile and positive reminders:

 Third idea is to inspire yourself with smile and positive reminders. If expect worst, the worst will happen. But if you smile, you will feel so much better. So what you have to do is just put smile on your face more often and that will make you happy! Also you may need to remind yourself that you are positive by noting some quote that cheer you up like “anything is possible” or “I always have a choice”. It really helps!

 

 

Focus on the present and reject the past:

 

The last one is to focus on the present and reject the past. You have to learn to face and to live with the present moment. The present moment that you are in right now. The moment present that is guaranteed you.

Being an optimist is giving you a huge amount of advantage in terms of being happier, being healthier, having less stress or reducing the tendency of getting some dangerous disease. Furthermore, being optimist is not that hard to do. You do not have to force yourself to do it all, just try to do it as best as you can, and you will see the result of it.

Optimists tend to share several other positive characteristics that increase overall happiness and promote health while reducing depression and chronic stress:

• They think about, reflect on, and emphasize the good things in life.
• They are grateful and thankful for all their blessings.
• They don’t complain when something bad happens.
• They feel that nothing can hold them back from achieving success and reaching their goals.
• They believe in abundance.

• They are confident that the world offers plenty of opportunities for everyone to succeed.

Optimism is a skill of emotional intelligence, which translates to a better career and greater success in life. Life is too short to be miserable, so start turning your thinking around! The power of positive thinking can advance your prospects for work, relationships and other life experiences.

Coconut Boxs helps the children to develop optimism in four ways,

1. Coconut Boxs is designed for the children to explore the unknown outcome with confidence and flexibility (open-mindedness).
2. It trains the children to be calm when the outcome is uncertain.
3. It trains the children to believe in a positive outcome even when it seems impossible in the beginning.
4. Coconut Boxs is designed with open-ended material so that children themselves set the challenges and solve them.
   Therefore, I hope you all might be thinking about being an optimist in order to have a better life, a better attitude toward everything by taking those ideas that I told you about and using Coconut Boxs as a tool.

 

 

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