Happiness and optimism

Happiness and optimism

How do you view the difficult events that show up in your life, or happen in the world around you? I’m open about the fact that I was very depressed during my residency, and even before that, it often seemed that life’s events were relentlessly unfair. Yet something has happened to me over the last few years, perhaps as a result of the extraordinarily positive experience of finding my right place in the world. Somehow, I’ve become an incurable optimist.

Living in Mexico for several years played a big role in this. It’s a very spiritual and optimistic place, despite the hardships faced by so many. I constantly heard the phrase: “por algo pasan las cosas” – “everything happens for a reason”. Good or bad, it’s all good. They see all life events as divinely ordained, no matter how difficult or painful they may appear on the surface.

I recently read an interview (on www.eqtoday.com, unfortunately it no longer seems to be available) with the father of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, which made me feel very happy about having switched teams to join the optimists.

To read more about Seligman, happiness, optimism and positive psychology – click here