What Does Optimistic Mean?
What is the meaning of this word? What is optimistic? What is optimism?
Here are a few definitions that explain what it means.
- Optimistic or being an optimist, means that you hope and expect favorable results.
- It means being positive, cheerful and confident about the future.
- It means a person with a positive attitude, who believes and hopes things would turn out well.
- Optimistic is a person who believes that no matter what the situation is, things would improve.
- It is the tendency to look at the bright side of life, even in negative events and situations.
- Being an optimist does not mean that you are out of touch with reality, ignoring difficulties and obstacles, and behaving in a naïve way.
- You can be optimistic, and at the same time show good common sense and judgment.
What Is Optimism
What does optimistic mean according to various dictionaries:
- Merriam Webster defines it as, “Feeling or showing hope for the future.”
- Cambridge dictionary defines it as, “hoping or believing that good things will happen in the future.”
- Dictionary.com says about it: “Disposed to take a favorable view of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.”
It is important to be a balanced optimist. Use your common sense and take action to ensure that things will turn out well. You need to do more than just just tell yourself that nothing bad can happen.
Don’t just close your eyes to reality. Doing so, can lead to being impractical, making poor decisions, and letting people ridicule you or take advantage of you.
What does optimistic mean in everyday life?
- It means sticking to a positive attitude, no matter what is happening around you.
- It means not allowing circumstances, situations and people to affect your attitude.
What is optimistic, what kind of a person is he or she? How to define an optimistic person?
A balanced optimist looks at reality, acknowledge the difficulties and obstacles, but is not discouraged by them.
A balanced optimist can see the good and the bad, but at the same time, expects success, and puts forth effort to make things turn out well.
This state of mind is most important for success, for improving your life, for good relationships, and getting over difficulties and obstacles.
Questions to Ask Yourself
To learn about yourself, ask yourself the following questions and answer them:
- Are you optimistic or pessimistic?
- Do you expect the best or the worst to happen?
- Are you usually positive, hopeful, and confident, or negative?
- Do you expect problems or good endings?
Being optimistic doesn’t mean waiting for things to happen by themselves.
It means expecting the best, believing that the best will happen, but at the same time making decisions, following them, acting and making things happen.
The Importance of Optimistic Outlook
Why be an optimistic?
Because optimism keeps you motivated and energetic.
It gives you the ambition, confidence and joy to pursue your goals and make constructive improvements in your life. It helps you focus on your vision, and makes everyday a happy day.
This attitude does not mean that you are a passive and an impractical person. It does not denote that you ignore difficulties and problems.
Real optimism means facing difficulties and problems without fear.
It means believing that you can solve the difficulties.
With this attitude you seek solutions with confidence, cheerfulness and a positive attitude.
Tips on How to Be Optimistic
Below, you will find tips on how to be optimistic and more positive. I hope you will find these tips useful to learn optimism and implement it in your life.
Remember, just reading these tips is not enough, you need practice them to get results.
- Don’t get angry with yourself if you find yourself feeling pessimistic. Acknowledge that it is only natural to feel pessimistic at times, when life is boring or when you encounter difficulties or hardships.
- Acknowledge that changing your mental attitude takes time, so be patient.
- Keep a list of motivational and inspiring quotes handy, and read them several times a day.
- At least once a day, listen to music, your favorite songs, or some inspiring or relaxing music.
- Exercise your body often and regularly.
- At least once a day do something that makes you happy and satisfied. This can be anything, like eating something you love, watching a favorite T.V. program, reading, or talking to a friend.
- Try to smile more often.
- Take more care of your appearance and how you dress. What you wear, and how you look affects how you feel. This can make you feel more confident and positive.
More Tips on How to Be an Optimist
- Strive to see the good, positive and funny in every situation.
- Expect good things to happen in your life. When negative thoughts access your mind replace them with thoughts of hope, cheerfulness and confidence.
- Have enough sleep at night. When don’t sleep enough or don’t sleep well you can get moody, unhappy and impatient. Good sleep will make you more energetic, alive, optimistic and feeling good.
- If you can, avoid the company of negative people. You don’t want their negative emotions and negative thoughts to affect how you think or feel.
- Always, seek the company of positive, happy and cheerful people.
- Learn to accept the past, leave it behind and continue to better things. Wallowing in the past creates unhappiness and lack of optimism. You need to learn to let go.
- Find a few minutes each day, to visualize yourself happy, satisfied and feeling good.
- Repeat inspiring, motivating, and constructive affirmations.
Inspirational Optimistic Quotes
“An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.”
“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”
“Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something can be done rather than saying it can’t be done.”
“Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.”
More Quotes on Optimism
If you enjoyed reading my articles, you can thank me by clicking on the button below!
About the Author
My name is Remez Sasson. I am the author and creator of SuccessConsciousness.com, which I have been running since 2001. Join me on a fabulous journey to self improvement, happiness, success, positive lifestyle, conscious living and meditation, through my website, articles and books.