“I’m not interested in blind optimism, but I’m very interested in optimism that is hard-won, that takes on darkness and then says, ‘This is not enough.’ But it takes time, more time than we can sometimes imagine, to get there. And sometimes we don’t.”
Colum McCann (by way of Jonathan Carroll’s Facebook page)
I think this is important to remember. Hoping for the best without taking the time to educate ourselves is not particularly helpful. Blindly doing the same thing we’ve been doing over and over while expecting a different (and better) outcome is Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity. Looking at silver linings to the extent that we’re blinded to reality and won’t look for changes we can make to better our situations keeps us stuck in one place.
But taking a real look at our lives and making change, real change, takes optimism as well. Optimism allows us to believe we’ll be okay whatever is happening. Optimism allows us to think change is possible for us. Optimism allows us to create a vision of a better future. Optimism gives us courage. And optimism gives us a greater capacity for both kindness and happiness.
The trick, then, is in being able to tell the difference between the optimism that holds us down and the optimism that lifts us up.
The Practical Free Spirit 
Was thinking about this the other day.
It’s not necessarily rational to be optimistic about good things happening to you. However, it makes complete sense to be optimistic that in the future you’ll be at least as happy as you are right now. Most bad things aren’t as bad as we think they’ll be. Even people who lose the use of their legs eventually regain their pre-trauma levels of happiness. Given that, I think a certain level of optimism makes a lot of sense: there’s a fair chance that good things will happen to you, and even if they don’t, the bad things probably won’t make you that much unhappier than you are (in the long run).
On the reverse side, I sometimes think people are too optimistic in thinking that there is some material change in their lives that will make them happier: the happiness we gain from good things happening also doesn’t tend to last very long.
Interesting thoughts. I do think there are some changes that can sometimes be made that will increase happiness, but I also think that the point of making many changes has nothing to do with day-to-day happiness levels. I wrote a blog post more about that, which will come out tomorrow. 🙂
Great insights!
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