Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute….  George Bernard Shaw

Do you view the glass as half empty, or half full? Or have we got the glass-half-full metaphor all wrong?

Our Perception is a Matter of Perspective.

We were taught that pessimists see the glass as half-empty while optimists see it as half-full. Perhaps it has more to do with what YOU DO than how you see the glass. For example: does thinking positively make us healthier? Or is it that being healthier leads us to think positively?

We all have ‘sunnier’ days in which we wear the rosy and bright glasses, and ‘rainier’ days when the world is seen through the gray and dark glasses. Some people, have a consistent tendency to think, feel and behave, in a way that is unbalanced and inclined toward one of the extremes on the optimism-pessimism continuum.

Like everything in life there is duality to consider.

Being optimistic, may lead you to a better and longer life. That does not mean that you always stay on top of the optimistic ladder, looking at the sky. All you need do is be aware of the negative and pessimistic thoughts and remain balanced to live a positive and yet realistic life.

Successful living requires a fine balance between optimism and pessimism. Both are feelings of expectations; arising from the state of our mind and depend on the way we experience the forces of faith or fear.

Often enough, I use strategic optimism and defensive pessimism to make decisions.

For instance, at times I find myself setting my expectations very high, while at others I imagine all the things that might go wrong. I know that when I pay less attention to detail and fail to seek new information to challenge my rosy views, I lead myself to deficient decisions.

Through many years of experience, I have found that both strategic optimism and defensive pessimism have self-fulfilling aspects and involve risks that lead to successes or failures.

The idea is to keep evaluating the choices of our decisions by weighing the costs and benefits and keep facing the facts.

The Essence of Optimism

Living this essence is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope, requires we remain in the present moment and focused on what is real. Where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high and to claim the future for himself. Some people believe that optimism is something that we are born with. Having said that, I invite you to challenge the assumptions and oversimplified advice regarding positive thinking. Sometimes we need to take the negative path to happiness, instead of trying to always be overly positive. By this I mean that we need to turn toward uncertainty and insecurity. We need to embrace what is in the present moment, even pessimism — to find a different way that might be more durable and successful.

I remember from early in my childhood life, I had a positive view of the world. Later, I realized that by allowing the environment and others to project their negative thinking, kept pushing my optimism away.

The idea is to remain flexible, not fixed on optimism or pessimism. Our word is unpredictable, and we need to stay between the two and towards a realist approach.

Prior to starting my mission at Eudaimonia, for more than 30 years, I was running a large size business that entailed many demands and challenges. Some of my decisions would lead to positive results while others did not bring the best outcomes. During these years, I learned that the mind tends to be stuck in pessimist thoughts. I also realized that it was easier for me to move from positive to negative thoughts than from negative to positive. So, I created a detailed list of major successes and missteps that I consulted, each time my mind was moving between the optimism-pessimism scale.

“There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.” — William Shakespeare

So here is how can we balance pessimistic and optimistic thoughts.

1. Live life by choice.

When a pessimist thought shows up think of something positive, choose to be happy. Choose your attitude each day, expecting good things, choose to be grateful. A shift in attitude will

2. Stay in the present moment.

Only in the present, can we make decisions or respond to events or challenges. Only in the present can we exercise our free will to change our lives. The only point of power to create and change our lives is the present moment. When we rise above our thoughts and emotions, we begin to realize that between the perception of the past and wonderful dreams of the future, lay the magnificence of the present.

3. Focus on your possibilities, not your limitations.

If you don’t set your mind on possibilities, limitations will set it for you. See the bright side of things and remain at a state of gratitude. Allow feelings of being at ease with everything and everyone around. It is a peace of mind and a sense of well-being that will allow you to access to more choices.

4. Focus your energy on the best outcome.

If you are dealing with a challenging situation, focus your energy on the best outcome. Search for positive aspects and visualize all possibilities. Use your imagination to envision, strengthen and reinforce your desired outcome. Believe that you can bring success to the issue at hand.

5. Step outside of the experience.

Put on your clear glasses for seeing and fully accept the reality of the challenging experience. By distancing yourself from automatic impulses, time bound mechanisms, and limiting beliefs, you bypass the mind’s programming and are able to create fresh results.

6. Courage of the heart

In order to have accurate thinking and give your best effort in a situation not only you have to have faith, you also need to understand and embrace your fears. Realize the interplay between the mind and the heart. Courage of the heart is what will give you the freedom over the mind’s conformity to standards, providing you with the capability to make better decisions.

7. Your greatest power is invisible

Use optimism and pessimism as motivators, appreciating both as tools to successful decisions. Always paired them with a reality check, making sure that your positive expectations do not drift you away from your targets.

It’s your actions, not your perceptions, that help you improve the way you view the world. Your greatest power is invisible, and the value of your optimism is defined in terms of your “aliveness.” Life is not easy,  but focusing on your progress will keep you motivated. You must recover the joy and pleasure in doing the work. You have the power to transform any situation from the inside-out.

So, go ahead and enjoy the Glass.  What you do with it matters more than how you see the glass!

…Blessings of Love, Dimitri

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