#Learned optimism by martin seligman how to#

One of the many things we fail to understand in life is that we can control helplessness once we put our minds to it. As humans, we have been socially conditioned to view failure as a lack of talent and hard work, but this is not entirely true.ДЇailure can happen even when we are talented and hardworking - what makes us better is our ability to overcome that failure by being optimistic. Pessimism plants depression and helplessness into our hearts when we embrace it. We are always quick to focus on the negative side of things, and thatвЂ™s a very wrong way to approach life. Pessimism kills our confidence and replaces it with blame. Like all pessimists, the father automatically assumed the worst and blamed himself for a terrible situation. After some days, however, the child started responding to sounds, proving the mother and the physician right.ДЄ lot of us exhibit the fatherвЂ™s behavior in many areas of our lives. He assumed the worst and feared greatly until he fell into depression. Both parents consulted a physician, and even though the physician said the child was okay, the father was still not satisfied. On the other hand, the mother was calm and collected she believed that her child was not deaf, but that she was not yet used to responding to noise. He referred to his deaf grandfather and told his wife that he was responsible for the childвЂ™s deafness. The father noticed that their little girl didnвЂ™t respond to sounds, and he automatically assumed that she was deaf. Two parents watched their new baby in her early days.

HeвЂ™s not deterred by failure, and he sees every action as a learning experience. HeвЂ™s always thinking about the worst-case scenario, and heвЂ™s always far from being confident.ДЄn optimist, on the other hand, is more concerned about the positive aspects of life. Most of the things we do come from our choice between these two ways of life.ДЄ pessimist is one who views life from the negative side at all times. Pessimism and optimism are the two major ways humans view life With optimism, our options are limitless, and we can truly develop the world for ourselves and the coming generations. Learned optimism is possible because our explanatory style can be changed with consistent determination. Martin SeligmanвЂ™s belief that we should all embrace optimism should resonate in our hearts. Pessimism is not an ideal way of life, and it should be disputed as much as possible. We become hopeless, and we place little to no value on ourselves. We blame ourselves for everything, and we are quickly drawn into a depressive state that can become very devastating. Without confidence, we lack self-control and the will to keep going. Pessimism, on the other hand, kills all of our confidence. ItвЂ™s the driving force that makes us successful in school, at work, or in our businesses. Unless we are confident, we will find it hard to overcome obstacles.Д¬onfidence is what makes us push forward, even when things seem hard. Confidence is the main component of optimism it is the foundation on which it is laid. Success is often attached to talent and hard work, but one aspect of hard work many people overlook is confidence. Seligman's ABC techniques.Д¬hange your interior dialogue and experience the astonishing positive results.ItвЂ™s impossible to achieve long-term success as long as we are pessimistic Help your children to practice the thought patterns that encourage optimism.Д«reak the 'I-give-up' habit with Dr. Recognize your 'explanatory style' - what to say to yourself when you experience set-backs and how it influences your life.Д«oost your mood and your immune system with healthful thoughts. With concrete examples, Dr Seligman documents the effects of optimism on the quality of life, provides tests to determine the degree of our negative and positive orientation, and offers a program of specific exercises to help break the habit of pessimism and learn the habit of optimism for both ourselves and our children.

#Learned optimism by martin seligman how to#

Learned Optimism shows us how to stop automatically assuming guilt, how to get out of the habit of seeing the direst possible implications in every setback, and how to be optimistic.