The power of optimism, and how to get rid of blaming tendency

The power of optimism, and how to get rid of blaming tendency

One of the best quotes ever

What exactly is the difference between optimism and pessimism? Many of us are aware of the classic example in which the optimist finds a glass half-filled with water to be half-full, while the pessimist sticks to the opinion that it is half-empty. One of my most favourite quotes of all time is "The optimist finds advantages within disadvantages, while the pessimist finds disadvantages within advantages". The quote is absolutely true, and especially so for the modern world.

Today's world is riddled with complicated problems everywhere. We no longer have to protect ourselves from tigers and leopards like our ancestors had to, but our problems are no less complex. Ranging from troubles at home with wife to problems regarding social affairs, from the chances of getting into a trap by investing money to making our very way through this world towards a secure future, whatever we do or attempt to do is complicated. As the human population increases and we become globally more and more connected, competition increases everywhere. And there doesn't have to be a simple answer such as "Look! A is the root of all problems! Get him out and all troubles will be solved". Because like Einstein stated a hundred years ago in his papers of relativity, all our observations are relative to something. There is no absolute definition of anything.

Be an optimist, and drive away the shadow of pessimism.

For example, I am from India. I see many people of my country trying to make more money by doing jobs online for the Americans. Richer companies in USA make use of this opportunity and use it to get the jobs done for $5 which would otherwise have costed them $40 in case they resorted to the old technique of getting it done by an American resident. This, as a case study, shows us how the antagonistic attitude grows up between people of both countries. From the perspective of an American resident, "Those bloody Indians are taking up our jobs! And is there no end to this immigration?! Do we have no liberty even in our own country? Why do we have to compete against foreigners in our own nation to get jobs?! Most importantly, they're also lowering the standards of payments, bloody beggars!". From the perspective of an Indian who has been to the USA, "It is my utmost priority to secure my own future and that of my family monetarily. I'm doing the job, that's why I'm getting paid. I'm not doing anything bad! I already had to face such stiff competition in my own country, and now if I make a living in a good way in USA, what's the problem of those people? Aren't they being racists?".

Who, then, is right? The answer is very, very complicated. Both have an equal claim over being right, and in my opinion, from their individual perspectives, both are right. 

But one thing must be stated properly, simply blaming others for our own problems won't change the reality. The tendency of our brain is to turn to all sorts of bad practices such as blaming, a feeling of misery, guilt etc when we find 'channels of processing' closed. In his beautiful words, Mr. Ebbi Thomas of http://www.effective-mind-control.com/ nicely explains this dilemma, in terms of neuroscience, which I took the liberty of simplifying a bit further with a common life problem.

Imagine you're returning home after a hard day's work. After getting off from the train, you start walking towards your house that's, say, at H. And currently you're at A. Now, let us assume there are 6 paths, a,b,c,d,e and f from A to H. You're especially 'unlucky' (so you think, let's assume) that day to find out that a,b,c and d, the four short paths (1 km each) are all blocked due to some sort of construction activity going on. e is a bit longer, 2 kms, while f is really long, 6 km. So, this acts as the input, and your brain, with its immense level of understanding, immediately searches for an alternate pathway to accomplish your goal, that is, to get you to your house. So, really irritated, you started going along e. But after covering half the distance, you see that even e is blocked there because, say, a tree has fallen due to storm right on it, making it impossible and really insecure for pedestrians to attempt to go that that, because all electric wires there have just created a mess. What would your reaction be? You're tired, hungry and most certainly angry. You start cursing your luck, and nearly everything around. But this feeling is anger is triggered by Amygdala, the primitive organ of your brain that helped your ancestors solve their problems. But our problems and theirs are no longer the same. We need more sophisticated solutions. Yet, your heartbeat rises, your nostrils flare and all sorts of angry thoughts come to your mind. "WHY ME?! WHY NOW?! WHY THIS?!" and so on.

Everything can be simplified, no matter how
complicated it seems. But you must learn
to feed the right wolf, you must
give priority to your pre-frontal cortex. 

But the real trick is to accept what you can't change. Remember, the power of your Pre-Frontal cortex is tremendous. So, just calm down, control your feelings, and ask yourself "What's the matter chap? All these would have happened if if I had not been here at this moment. No one is just planning this with me. It's just an accident". This is where optimism comes into play. A pessimist, instead of doing anything, starts cursing everything and everyone, thereby wasting his or her own precious energy. On the other hand, the optimist either waits patiently, or starts going along the other way. He first makes a call to his home and explains his delay, sits in a nearby cafe and takes a hot cup of coffee, plunges some cold water on his face and lazily starts off along f, whistling all the way. He takes out his iPod/android/phone, plugs in his headphones and starts listening to a favourite song, or maybe the latest latest updates over the FM, occasionally stopping to take a shot of the moon and try his hand at low-light and night photography. This is the power of optimism.

Blaming others, or blaming the situation itself is a primitive tendency of ours. It's very hard to fully get rid of it. But always remember, my friends, we are human beings. We're the most developed things in the universe we've ever seen, and we've own time and again against much greater atrocities. As humans, we are endowed with the miraculous power of our brain, and using it wisely, we can solve ANY SITUATION.

Mahatma Gandhi rightly said "If you want to see a change in the world, be that change". Cultivate the advantages from any disadvantage you may face, and force yourself to stay calm and happy. Because simply wasting your energy by displaying your anger will only affect you.

Accepting a very harsh situation can be difficult, but there's simply no other way. Have faith in the immense potency of your mind, and you'll be successful, no matter what storms block your path.