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https://www.positive.news/society/optimism-as-action-why-looking-on-the-bright-side-is-essential-to-social-progress/>
"In the months after his wife’s death from ovarian cancer, Sumit Paul-Choudhury
found himself questioning what kind of person he was. “I was always vaguely
aware I was an optimist, but it was more a fun quirk of my personality, rather
than something central,” he reflects. “Then optimism helped me get through that
experience, and the fact I decided to identify and act like an optimist helped
me to be more optimistic and to direct my optimism.
“I thought I was a dyed-in-the-wool evidence-based rationalist, which I am. I
had to reconcile that I was also a person who believed, without evidence, that
things are going to improve.”
Believing there are better times and better possibilities ahead, even when
there’s scant or no evidence, requires a leap of faith – sometimes informed,
sometimes blind. But this kind of optimism, psychological, philosophical and
practical, has been vital to human survival and progress. And, argues
Paul-Choudhury – an astrophysicist-turned-journalist and former editor-in-chief
of
New Scientist magazine – in his new book
The Bright Side, it’s essential
to creating better futures for ourselves and for society.
It was optimism, he argues, that was key to Ernest Shackleton and his crew
surviving two years of hardship after their ship,
Endurance, got stuck in the
ice on their Antarctic expedition. Shackleton said ahead of the expedition:
“The quality I look for most is optimism: especially optimism in the face of
reverses and apparent defeat. Optimism is true moral courage.”
“They were stuck in a situation where it looked hopeless,” reflects
Paul-Choudhury, “a situation where there didn’t look to be positive
possibilities in front of them, but where, if you don’t strive to improve, then
you are going to die. It required them to believe, despite the evidence, that
better times were ahead.”
Though
The Bright Side is not a self-help book, Paul-Choudhury believes
optimism isn’t only for times of adversity. For everyday life challenges, it’s
still about the willingness to believe there are positive possibilities out
there that you don’t expect he explains. “That feeds into greater life
satisfaction, as it makes you better at coping with setbacks. Rather than
hitting a wall and thinking: ‘I’m going to give up,’ even if you don’t know how
to get around or over it, you keep trying. And that makes it more likely if
there is a way to get around it, you’ll find that way.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
