Oh hello darling and welcome to February on benpechey.com. Now that the dust has settled on 2020 it is time to look ahead to a year full of possibilities. Over the next four weeks, we will look at terms that will help us on our paths to succeed in meeting the goals we want to achieve this year.
To start things off, I wanted to look at Optimism.
Optimism
noun
“the quality of being full of hope and emphasising the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen”
Optimism is the glass half full approach that many people confuse with naivety. Don’t be fooled, it is a robust approach to life that can even help your mental health, especially when used in measured doses. Keep reading to find out how optimism can help you this year.
Optimistic approaches to life mean that even with the worst of days we look for something good. This can be achieved through journaling, summing up the things that made your day brighter, or you can note it on your phone, take a picture of the moment, or call a friend and tell them about it.
Over time you will create a collage of things that make you happier, and help your life move forwards more smoothly. Then on your darker days, you can slip into your reserve of positive actions or events, and use one the brighten up your day!
An emotional state that can provide hope and a silver lining to most situation sounds like a good preset? Well, it is perfect if you suffer from anxiety, because it is the exact opposite of how anxiety makes you feel.
While it may not always be possible to overcome anxiety and other mental health hurdles with thought alone, it is a good option to use to soften some of the harder symptoms.
When we exert energy looking for something, magically we do see more of that one thing. There is no sudden increase in that thing, we are simply spending more time with our eyes focused on it, thus we notice it more. If you don’t believe me, try focusing on looking for yellow cars!
Our silly brains can do this for us whenever we want it to, it works well for negative emotions, so why not try it for a positive outlook on the world too? If we look for good news, we will see more good news. Think of optimism as the filtering system for a nicer life.
If it doesn’t work for you then that is okay, it won’t work for everyone, but please do try and give it a go, because we could all do with a few more silver linings this year.
Thank you for embarking with me on this small self-improvement piece, I will be back next week to explore the practical applications of planning. As always, I love you lots like jelly tots, until next time, uh buh bye.
Shot by Rachel Pechey
Comments