Optimism Can Be Learned: Psychologist Shares Tips On How To Do It

It's Tune-up Tuesday.

And this morning, we are looking on the bright side

of things to focus on how to practice optimism.

Psychologist,

Dr Deepika Chopra

is known as the optimism doctor and is here to help. Good morning doctor.

Good to see you. Good

morning. It's so good to be here.

Well, first of all, so what's the difference between

optimism and positivity? How do you differentiate those?

So, I feel like people are always so surprised when I say positivity is not the

first word that really comes to mind for me when I think about optimism.

The first two words that come to mind to me are resiliency and curiosity.

And so, I think there's this misconception of what being optimistic is.

And I think people just think that being optimistic is about being positive 24/7.

And in reality, that's not possible.

And so, a true optimist is really someone that is very keenly aware

of the setbacks and the roadblocks and the less than ideal situations.

But the caveat is they see them as temporary

and something that they have the ability to overcome,

even if they don't know how or when. So, it's really about this resiliency.

Yeah. It's interesting because it's more realistic, I guess

because you're dealing with robots. So, if you are optimistic, you're saying that

you will not only be mentally better but physically better. Yes.

So, there is just a host of research done.

I think we can all sort of agree that it makes sense that our

emotional

selves are better if we have a more optimistic mindset.

But what I think is so interesting is there's been a ton of research done and

optimistic people are sick less often.

They have better cardiovascular health; they live longer; they thrive longer.

So, not just in terms of how many years they live, they have better support system,

more able to reach their goals, and

they just experience more positive mood.

You make better decisions.

Yeah,

you make more actually optimistic people more

likely than not make more healthy decisions.

And I think it makes sense because they can kind of,

they can see who they are going to be in the future, and they kind of invest in that.

Would you say that we're born optimist or pessimists or is it a muscle

we can kind of work on to get better at? You hit the target word.

It's totally a muscle.

So, there is a lot of research to support that there is a, you know, genetic component,

but good news is it's only really up to 25%.

So, the remaining part really can be learned.

And so, I like to look at optimism as a

muscle and really this thing that's on a continuum.

And so, you know, you often hear,

you know, I just think I was born more pessimistic or I'm a pessimist or an optimist.

And

I actually feel we are all sort of neither. We're all both.

So, there are aspects of our life that we are more prone to being optimistic.

And I know, for me, you know, I'm known as the optimism doctor, but I gotta be honest,

I am not the most optimistic person.

And yeah,

my like Achilles Heel with optimism is really like medical stuff and health.

So, it depends on the different—yes—

the different thing.

May be optimistic about your kids and their future, but maybe your health is. Right.

Right. And so, that's where my work lies.

And so, I think we're all on a continuum, and the good thing is, you know,

we can grow on that continuum, and there are actual exercises we can do

to

increase.

In fact,

you created this deck of cards called "Things are looking up."

So, this is a deck of cards.

There's 52 of them, and they each have a science-based prompt

or an actionable item that actually tells you what to do.

So, they're not affirmation cards, and they all work to

increase your optimism and your resiliency and your joy. So, can we try this?

Yes. In fact, I'm gonna have you go first.

I gonna pick a card for you.

Ok.

Pick any card.

Pick any card.

Any card.

All right, I've seen this on

on the street. I

lost a bunch of money. Just for today, instead of making a to-do list,

make a ta-da list or and I did it list. So, what do you mean by that?

So, you know,

I think we get bogged down, and it can be very stressful for us to

constantly think about all the things we need to do or we have to do.

And oftentimes, I hear people at

the end of their day making a list for the

following day of all the things they have to do.

And I say, why not make a ta-da list?

These are all the things that I have accomplished today.

Gratitude for what you've done. Yeah. Gratitude for what you've done.

And you start to realize at the end, and

I'm talking about small things because those really matter.

You start to realize how accomplished you really are.

And it's really about this sense of self mastery and empowerment.

You've got to make a big ta-da list.

He's got a

lot of

things

going on.

It's really

important.

Thank you so much. Really appreciate this.

OK? Wait, there's more.

Unfortunately, we

are, we are... I am gonna

take my card for later. You know what

we're gonna do, we're gonna put this online.

Ok. So, everyone

can check it out.

Hey, thanks for watching our YouTube channel.

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