![]() Research has linked optimism to everything from a longer lifespan, better sleep, and lower risk of disease. Many self-help enthusiasts and professional therapists prescribe positive thinking to promote happiness-and it works. And we all want to feel good-well, most of us do. First, above all, hope in a brighter future feels good. Optimism is prime for marketing (See Roses are Red or Five Minutes a Day). Norman Vincent Peale is known for his best seller The Power of Positive Thinking. Napoleon Hill published Think and Grow Rich in 1937. Optimism painted in broad strokes misses significant limitations (and even harms) that lurk in unhealthy expectations, lurching from the darkness, harming the unsuspecting unrealistic dreamer.Įarly pioneers in positive thinking tickled our hopeful fancies with books that still sit on the top of “must read” lists. However, like other psychological concepts, optimism is complex and has some notable tradeoffs. ![]() Marketing geniuses create products that exploit these vulnerabilities, promising roses to those planting dandelions. We want happiness and spend precious money to get it. The well-being market is fueled with billions of dollars. Scientific findings are the malleable fodder that life coaches, wellness advocates, and motivational speakers run with, magnifying specific findings into ginormous, all-encompassing wonderfulness. Research provides an abundance of support for being high on optimism. Like most pessimist, I prefer being called a realist. Over the last couple decades, positive psychology has touted many benefits of being optimistic, perhaps proclaiming more than what optimism can provide. ![]() ![]() Our wellness benefits most from optimism when it is based in reality. Optimism brings energy to action, motivating persistence in the face of difficulty. ![]()
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