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How to Cultivate Optimism · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at Walk West.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for taking some time out of your day to spend with me.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: So if it's morning, afternoon, or evening, I just really want to say thank you for taking these minutes to spend some time with me and to just sort of talk about ways that we can cultivate or just live into the joy that is right for us.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: And today I wanted to tackle the idea and the concept and the question of how do we cultivate optimism?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: So optimism is both a mental attitude as well as a personality trait that is truthfully determined by the perceptions of the world that we have around us.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Psychologists say that it's not reality itself, but it's really the perception of it that shapes how we feel and think and behave.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: So your perception of reality determines whether or not you see things from an optimist, optimistic perspective or a pessimistic perspective.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: An optimist believes in the positive outcomes and expects good things to happen, whereas a pessimist expects unfavorable outcomes.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes we'll say that optimism, optimists have a positive mindset that helps them see failures and negative experiences as more of a temporary thing rather than permanent, and that they understand the concept of common humanity and they just have hope and confidence that they will eventually get to success.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's sort of leading into or really leaning into this idea that without failure there is no success.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really recognizing that you kind of have to fail a few times before you can actually achieve success.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not looking at failure as the end of something.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So optimism is linked to various benefits, just such as better resilience, um, better ability to just manage stress, stronger coping skills, better health outcomes when health issues do arise, uh, the ability to just persist a little bit more.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Barbara Frederickson, Dr.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Barbara Frederickson, who is one of the leading researchers in this concept of optimism, says that optimism is a personality trait that results from genetics, environment, and experience.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's kind of a combination from those, but that optimism uh can be learned and cultivated, which does differentiate it a bit from other personality traits.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and although optimism and happiness are tightly intertwined, they're not exactly the same.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Optimism is more of a mindset that allows you to handle stressful situations better, have stronger relationships, and experience less anxiety and depression.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it can boost your happiness and life satisfaction as well as improve health and increase your general overall lifespan.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are the benefits of being optimistic?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, an optimistic mindset helps you just see the world around you in a different way.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: It allows you to see your experiences in a different way and allows you to see people in a more positive light.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now, being optimistic doesn't mean that you are not aware of adverse events or adverse outcomes in your life.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that you acknowledge that something negative may have happened, but you just see those challenges as opportunities for growth and not the end of something.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, optimists tend to really anchor into the concept of self-compassion and just are likely to truthfully expect good things for their life because they know that even with the challenges, if they can pick out the things to be grateful for and pick out what and how they can grow from the experience, they're able to then move forward and they're they don't just they don't just become paralyzed and stop.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: So being optimistic can really help you just truthfully cope with stress better as well as continue to move forward to the goals that you have have set for yourself.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do we cultivate this?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: How do we create optimism in our lives?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, one of the very first things is cognitive restructuring, and what that really means is that you you bring to the consciousness and the awareness the thought processes that you're having, and you actually start to challenge the thoughts that you're having rather than automatically going with the thoughts and automatically having the thoughts sort of take their own their own route.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, cognitive restructuring is a technique that involves you to just challenge the negative thinking patterns that you might be having because you're bringing them to the awareness, and then you're you're challenging them, and then in that process, being able to replace them with more optimistic ways of seeing it.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what can I learn from this?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, how can I grow from this?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: So through this process of that cognitive restructuring, you're able to actually recognize the trigger points, you're able to recognize pessimistic thoughts, you are able to name them, reflect how you're feeling in the moment, and then being able to uh shift from that place and move forward.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, other ways that we cultivate optimism, gratitude.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I've said this many, many times on the podcast.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: I say it all the time with my clients, you know, when we can actually create an active gratitude practice where we take some time each day to recognize, you know, what are three to five things that I'm grateful for from my day to day?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we do this and we make a habit out of this, it allows us to even look at those challenging moments and be able to pick out those nuggets of goodness, those nuggets of being able to grow and move forward from challenging times.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, practicing loving-kindness, right?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: That loving-kindness meditation that we talk about when we talk about self-compassion, it's really focused on thinking kindly and positive, not just about yourself, but about others.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: It can be practiced to relieve negative mind states.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it can take us from a place of gloominess or anger or fear, and we're able to just uh um anchor into loving-kindness for ourselves as well as others, because persistent self-criticism can quickly turn into low self-esteem and pessimism.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: So focusing your thoughts on the present moment with an open heart, being able to send love to yourself as well as others can really start fostering the um the optimistic mindset.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Laughing more.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my kids will tease me about how loud I can laugh.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: My the, you know, especially across the field, my kids will know, oh, mom's there because we can hear her laughing.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: But it is so true.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: We underestimate the power of laughter.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: And in truthfully, there are so many studies that'll show that this basic form of human expression can reduce stress pretty much in instantaneously.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: It improves our resilience and it really does stimulate our brain to like that reward center.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: So laughter is that release of those powerful neurotransmitters and allows that hormone of happiness, right?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: The endorphins, the dopamine and serotonin.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so it allows those brain chemicals to really um act be released and act as that antidepressant.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: So just really figuring out ways to foster more joy and laughter each and every day.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then of course, positive affirmations.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I often say, you know, don't just go and find affirmations and just say them mindlessly.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's about affirmations that really mean something to you, that you believe in, that really speak to your heart.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: They're short, they're powerful statements, they're ones that we can anchor into.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: And when we're in those moments that we really need to cultivate a little more optimism by saying these short anchoring statements about ourselves, it can spark that that place where we can we can shift from that negative spiral, we can anchor back into a more grounded state and then move into a more positive way of thinking, a more optimistic way of thinking.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you find that you are in a challenge of trying to or you're ready to start working on your mindset and you're recognizing that these negative thoughts or automatic negative thoughts are keeping you kind of stagnant and you're ready to move forward, feel free to reach out.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'd be happy to talk to you about what we could do to help move you out of where you are into where you want to be.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: And above all, just really finding ways to anchor into um, you know, what's the one right thing?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: What's the one right thing going going on in my world today?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: If we can anchor into that each and every day, it is definitely a way to help us really truly live the joy we want, right?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Live joy your way.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, I'm Comedy Wood.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or visit her website at www.comedywood.com.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authentic me.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.