29 Oct Why Does Looking on the Bright Side Work?
via Psychology Today by Nicola Gates
COVID-19 is profoundly impacting the lives of people, communities, and nations. The universal message is that COVID-19 has wrought profound change in our daily lives. For some that change may include grief and/or overwhelming stress however, many report hope and are optimistic about the future.
An international research project which examined individual responses to COVID-19 found that most respondents believe that COVID-19 can enable us to have a better life. The aptly titled survey, ‘The Better Normal’ project from Australia’s Optimism Centre has collected responses from over 2500 people from 24 countries, and this study is ongoing. The results indicate that most of us are hopeful and are actively engaging in activities to build and reinforce positive emotion.
Now that we are into the long phase of living with COVID-19 it is an ideal time to regroup and harness this groundswell of optimism so we can reap the benefit of the positive changes and make things better as individuals and as a society.
Optimism can simply be thought of as the belief that things will work out positively in the end. It is not Pollyanna thinking that everything is wonderful or naïve that there are no problems, but the expectation that things will ultimately get better. Research indicates that optimistic thinking people are better at coping with difficult situations and adversity than pessimistic people…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE
#happiness #happy #happier #positive #positivity #optimism