“Choose to be optimistic, it feels better”. – Dalai Lama XIV
Would you call yourself an optimist?
For years, I would have answered this question with a no… I preferred to think of myself as a realist, with a bent toward cynicism and pessimism. I didn’t hold with the idea of pretending that everything was wonderful when it clearly wasn’t.
I also prided myself on recognizing that some things simply couldn’t be changed and didn’t waste my time trying to remake bad situations. I tried, instead, to accept them for what they were. The smart money wasn’t in a Pollyanna approach to the world; there were just too many difficult things in life. I couldn’t possibly be an optimist, because I was a realist.
Why was it so hard for me to walk on the brighter side of life? The crux of the issue, for me, was ego. I wanted to be taken seriously, and I thought that pointing out and dissecting problems meant I was thinking more deeply about life.
Imperfect Perceptions 