If you change your mind - from pessimism to optimism - you can change your life. Do you see the glass as half-full rather than half empty? Do you keep your eye upon the doughnut, ot upon the hole? Suddenly these cliches are scientific questions, as researchers scrutinize the power of positive thinking. Research is proving that optimism can help you to be happier, healthier and more successful. Pessimism leads, by contrast, tohopelessness, sickness and failure, and is linked to depression, loneliness and painful shyness. If we could teach people to think more positively, it would be like inoculating them against these mental ills.
Your habits count but the belief that you can succeed affects whether or not you will. In part, that’s because optimists and pessimists deal with the same challenges and disappointments in very different ways. When things go wrong the pessimist tends to blame himself.“I’m not good at this.”“I always fail.”He would say. But the optimist looks for loopholes. Negative or positive, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people feel hopeless they don’t bother to acquire the skills they need to succeed.
A sense of control is the litmus test for success. The optimist feels in control of his own life. If thingsare going badly, he acts quickly, looking for solutions, forming a new plan of action, and reaching out foradvice. The pessimist feels like fate’s plaything and moves slowly. He doesn’t seek advice, since he assumes nothing can be done. Many studies suggest that the pessimist’s feeling of helplessness undermines the body’s natural defenses, the immune system. Research has found that the pessimist doesn’t take good care of himself. Feeling passive and unable to dodge life’s blows, he expects ill health and other misfortunes, no matter what he does. He munches on junk food, avoids exercise, ignores the doctor, has another drink.
Most people are a mix of optimism and pessimism, but are inclined in one direction or the other. It is a pattern of thinking learned at our mothers’ knees. It grows out of thousands of cautions or encouragements, negative statements or positive ones. Too many “don’t” and warnings of danger can make a child feel incompetent, fearful and pessimistic. Pessimism is a hard habit to break - but it can be done.
中文翻译
如果你能将悲观情绪转化为乐观情绪，那么你将改变自己的命运。你看到的是杯子中的半杯水，还是空着的另一半？你的眼睛盯着的是炸面包圈，还是它当中的圆洞？当研究者们详细检 测积极思维的作用时，突然之间这些陈词滥调都成为了科学问题。研究证实，乐观能够让你更加快乐、更加健康、更加成功。相反，悲观则会导致无望、疾病以及挫败;其与消沉、孤独和使人 痛苦的腼腆不无关系。假如我们能够教导人们更加积极地去思考，那就会像给他们注射预防这些心理疾病的疫苗。
你的诸多习惯固然重要，但是你能够成功的信念影响着你是否真的会成功。在某种程度上讲，这是由于乐观主义者和悲 观主义者以迥异的方式对待相同的挑战与失望。当出了问题之后，悲观主义者往往自我责备。他会说我不揸长做这种事”，“我总是失败”。但是乐观主义者则寻找疏漏之处。不管是消极还是积极的想法，都是一种本身会得以实现的预言。如果人们感觉毫无希望,那么他们就不会花费力气去获得成功所需要的技能。
有无攀控感是成功的试金石。乐观主义者感觉到能够攀握自己的命运。如果亊出不利，他立即作出反应，寻求解决办法，制定新的行动计划，而且主动去请教他人。悲观主义者则感觉到自己只能任凭命运摆布，行动起来拖拖拉拉。既然认为无计可施，他便不去寻求他人的意见。许多研究显示，悲观主义者的无助感会损害人体的自然防御体系，即免疫系统。研究发现悲观主义者不会很好地照顾自己。这种人消极被动，不会避幵生活中的打击,不管做什么都会担心身体不好或者其他灾祸降临。他吞吃着垃圾食品（不利子健康且营养价值低的食品）,逃避体 育锻炼，忽视医生的劝告，总是要再贪一杯。
在大多数人身上，乐观主义和悲观主义兼而有之，但总是更加倾向于其中之一。这是在母亲膝下之时就已经形成的思维模式。它源自千万次瞀告或者鼓励，积极的或者消极的话语。过多的"不许"和危险警告会让一个孩子感到无能、胆怯——以至于悲观。悲观是一种很难克服的习惯一但是其并非不能够克服。