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There are many people on social media who, if their narratives are regularly consumed, will teach you a sort of learned pessimism - the art of despair.
There are others who will intrinsically teach you a learned optimism - the art of hope.
Learn how to tell the difference.
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There are others who will intrinsically teach you a learned optimism - the art of hope.
Learn how to tell the difference.
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Martin Seligman discusses this in his book Authentic Happiness
The book covers other things as well - like the benefit of virtues and strengths, and of pursuing gratification (long term & fulfilling), over fleeting pleasures.
But, a couple of notes on optimism and pessimism:
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The book covers other things as well - like the benefit of virtues and strengths, and of pursuing gratification (long term & fulfilling), over fleeting pleasures.
But, a couple of notes on optimism and pessimism:
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There are two dimensions to optimism/pessimism:
Permanence - related to time
Pervasiveness - related to space
Do we see bad events as having permanent, pervasive causes?
Or do bad events have temporary, specific causes, while good events have permanent, pervasive causes?
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Permanence - related to time
Pervasiveness - related to space
Do we see bad events as having permanent, pervasive causes?
Or do bad events have temporary, specific causes, while good events have permanent, pervasive causes?
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Finding permanent and universal causes for good events, along with temporary and specific causes of bad events is the practice of hope.
Finding permanent and universal causes for bad events, along with temporary and specific causes of good events is the practice of despair.
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Finding permanent and universal causes for bad events, along with temporary and specific causes of good events is the practice of despair.
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There are habits that we can learn/develop, to break pessimistic patterns of catastrophizing negative events.
That isn’t really what this thread is about, but it’s always good to be more conscious of our own thought patterns.
(Which station is the radio in your brain tuned to?)
That isn’t really what this thread is about, but it’s always good to be more conscious of our own thought patterns.
(Which station is the radio in your brain tuned to?)
If you pay attention, you can identify which people are perpetually engaging in despair.
Is this person continually ascribing systemic/universal, insurmountable causes to every negative event that occurs?
Because doing so *is* a choice - conscious or not.
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Is this person continually ascribing systemic/universal, insurmountable causes to every negative event that occurs?
Because doing so *is* a choice - conscious or not.
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And adopting that way of thinking has a couple of real consequences.
First, it will prevent us from taking action, or cause us to give up easily.
After all, if bad things are caused by problems that can’t be fixed, what’s the use in trying?
But potentially much worse...
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First, it will prevent us from taking action, or cause us to give up easily.
After all, if bad things are caused by problems that can’t be fixed, what’s the use in trying?
But potentially much worse...
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In its extreme, it can eventually lead to radicalization.
Believing that there are no peaceful/political solutions to the problems we face makes us vulnerable to influences who want to convince us to “tear it all down.”
This is a common part of radicalizing propaganda.
/8 https://twitter.com/clearing_fog/status/1359061269131587592
Believing that there are no peaceful/political solutions to the problems we face makes us vulnerable to influences who want to convince us to “tear it all down.”
This is a common part of radicalizing propaganda.
/8 https://twitter.com/clearing_fog/status/1359061269131587592
It’s important to recognize that pessimism is different from pragmatism.
It is entirely possible to be optimistic, while still being practical - or even cynical, sometimes.
This is about the difference between thought patterns that help us, versus those that hurt us.
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It is entirely possible to be optimistic, while still being practical - or even cynical, sometimes.
This is about the difference between thought patterns that help us, versus those that hurt us.
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