Optimism is a positive way of perceiving reality. Being a positive person is something you learn. It’s a personal task that takes time. A craft.  What definition can we give that covers the spectrum of this concept ?  Optimism is an attitude characterized by the tendency to discover more positive than negative aspects and to see or hope for the best, despite appearances . I will try to explain my proposed definition. It is, above all, an attitude, which means a disposition, the habitual way of reacting to something, like a posture, a gesture. It is not something genetic, but acquired. Likewise, it is not simply a hereditary element, but something that has been achieved through repeated efforts.

The next word I use is tendency, which expresses an inclination that is a learning process that leads us by the hand to discover what lies beneath appearances.  There are things that are seen, facts that are clearly observed… but there are others that are hidden beneath, that are camouflaged, and it requires a caving effort to pierce the surface and go deeper.  It is to reveal what is hidden.  Let’s think of so many circumstances in ordinary life where failure appears, something that has gone wrong; a serious financial problem, an illness, a humiliation witnessed by many…  The list of negative experiences in life is a never-ending story. (…)  Optimism leads us to discover the positive in all these experiences.

But  how can we learn to think positively? What can we do to train our psychological gaze so that it focuses more on the good than the bad? How can we do it?  It’s about training our psychological gaze, which notes the positive and negative aspects of each circumstance, but focuses more on the latter, and this leads us to believe that things can and should change . And it provides the appropriate means to try, despite the hardships. (…)

One of the fathers of so-called Positive Psychology is Martin Seligman, who has dedicated his life to this movement and who emphasizes that  optimism is a goal achieved by holding in mind the idea that everything can improve, no matter how adverse personal events may be. In fact, no pessimist has ever investigated anything in depth, nor has he been able to embark on discovering something that would help human beings improve in science, medicine, or technology. The optimist proposes solutions, scans the horizon for an alternative, and sifts through the intricacies of what has happened, seeking a shortcut that leads to a better landscape.

Let’s not forget that our first approximation to reality is emotional.  And we say it clearly: I liked that place, I didn’t even like that person, etc. In other words:  feelings influence our way of thinking.  And psychologists and psychiatrists know this well. When we feel good, we see things differently.  There’s a part of our brain that regulates emotions and changes the way we organize our thoughts.

Well, I want to be specific and glean some arguments to teach you how to have more positive thinking.

1. Beneath the negative events, there lies a silver lining that each of us must uncover:  We must slip into that passage and reach that bright spot. It takes will and patience.  The first is determination; the second is knowing how to wait and continue.
2. We must raise our sights, leaving the immediate for the intermediate. The answer lies in the distance. We must take a long-term view of the game. That way, there are serious defeats that, over time, become real victories.  We mustn’t dwell on the here and now. Short-termism is not a good path. We’re moving toward the medium and long term.  That’s the intelligent approach.
3. We must learn to thrive in the face of difficulties.  There are two fundamental traits that reside in the pessimist:  defeatism, which is nothing more than anticipating negative thoughts, thinking that things will turn out badly; and victimhood, the unwavering belief that one always suffers harm and is harmed, and that things are just the way they are and often follow that path.
4. The optimist is a born fighter. He doesn’t give up when things get tough or don’t go as expected. Perseverance quickly comes along to lend a hand, and that’s why he fights, strives, insists, starts again, gets up again. It’s tenacity that keeps him going, the determination to never give up. Unamuno says in his Diary : “Don’t give up, even when defeated, don’t consider yourself a slave, even when you’re a slave.” If you practice this, little by little, gradually, it becomes second nature.

Pessimism enjoys an intellectual prestige it doesn’t deserve. There are two pieces to work with in the behavioural engineering puzzle:  confidence and self-belief.  In this way, we are dwarfs on the shoulders of giants.

Life is like sailing. The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist waits for it to change. And the realist adjusts the sails.

Optimism is the art of living with hope.

Source: Extract from an article with the same title by Enrique Rojas published in ABC on 9.5.15, p-3 .