Wednesday 23rd May, 2018.
Today i would love to continue on this topic of being optimistic in every situation we find ourselves in life. Your approach to life matters. Anxiety will ever force one to say or think on things that will work contrary to himself. If only we will understand that we are the ones that are busy causing the problems we have, we can tackle our problems squarely. Anxiety will ever make you to be pessimistic in life. The way you see life determines the way life will be for you. There are always two sides of coin to life - pessimism, which is a by-product of anxiety and depression - and optimism, which is a by-product of faith or human will; that is self-confidence. It is these two factors - optimism and pessimism that determines a person's worldview or outlook to life. Every situation, condition, or circumstance contains these two sides.
You are the surveyor of your life and your environment. The reports you give will either plunge you to anxiety, which will automatically stop your efficiency, or it will spur your faith, which will make you to rule your world.
People who are generally optimistic tend to cope more effectively with stress, and this in turn may reduce their risk of illness.
This is according to a report by Seligman in 1990. An important characteristic optimists share is that they generally expect good outcomes. And such positive expectations help to make them more stress-resistant than pessimists, who tend to expect bad outcomes. An especially lethal form of pessimism is hopelessness. A longitudinal study of a large number of Finnish men reveal that participants who reported feeling moderate to high hopelessness died from all causes at two to three times the rates of those reporting low or no hopelessness as reported by Everton et al-, 1996.
Optimists are more likely to use problem-focused coping, to seek social report and to find the positive aspects of a stressful situation. Pessimists, on the other hand, are more likely to use denial or to focus on their stressful feelings. In a study of college students, Scheier and Carver (1985) found that at the end of the semester, optimistic students reported fewer physical symptoms than those who were pessimistic. And another study of patients who had undergone coronary bypass surgery, revealed that optimists recovered faster during their hospitalization and were able to resume their normal activities sooner after discharge than pessimists. Optimists are more likely to take preventive action against illness and to get treatment once illness strikes. Apparently, happy thoughts are healthy thoughts.
We are not in support of optimism that comes from self-confidence. In as much as this type of optimism is better than being pessimistic, we should understand that it has its own problem. Self-confidence is an act of one optimistically relying on himself or his will. It is the view of humanist, existentialist and Universalist. It may help to sustain a person but does not last. There is always a limit a human being can go by depending on himself. In one way or the other, people operating in this level are tricked towards accepting the will of satan. Also, these type of people, though their temporal needs seem to be met, their transcendental needs are never met. They are bothered with questions of "where will I go after death?" "Does existence consist of only a few short years on earth and nothing after that?" "What is my purpose for living?" These questions lead them to immeasurable anxiety.
Optimism should be exercised in absolute reliance on God. This is when it is faith. God is not telling us to rely on our will. God for sure wants us to maintain confidence but not self-confidence. The confidence God wants us to have is not human cleverness. It doesn't even mean being smarter than other people. It means ‘to be secure' and ‘to have assurance'. That is where the rubber of a person's existence meets the road. You need, more than anything else, to be confident. God wants that for you too.
Thank you so much for your time today!
ACTION PLAN: See what should make you do things than what could make you become inactive.