Optimism or Pessimism, Appreciation or Criticism, which one is easy?

In today’s fast paced world, everyone is so concerned about completing their work on time, meeting deadlines, reaching their destination on time and so on, that we often tend to brush aside a lot of positive things happening around us throughout the day amidst so much of negativity, we are accustomed to this so much that sometimes it becomes difficult to have an optimistic approach to anything we come across.

We often meet/see people who dive so deep into negativity that they tend to find negatives in almost everything, they seldom acknowledge the positive potential in anything, even if they do, that positivity lasts only for a while before they resort to negativity again, no matter how perfectly we finish a work, there are people who will always find some fault in it, they are pessimists, it is ironic to see that they never procrastinate in finding faults in others, but definitely hesitate to appreciate good work.

Reminds me of a beautiful story of a painter, with an intent to assess his potential he displays a fine painting on the busy street with a caption which reads, ‘find any fault in it’, within no time he attracts a lot of people who would criticize his work, this should have been done like this, this is not right, this could have been done in a better way, the selection of color is not right, and so on, whenever he tries to correct it based on the feedback he would get, he would find someone else giving negative feedback again, depressed with the unpleasant feedback, he throws it and almost gives up painting, a wise man then suggests him to display the same painting next day with a new caption which reads, ‘I defy you to draw something better then it’, not even a single person dares to come near to it.

'It’s very easy to criticize and very difficult to appreciate'.

Pessimism is a disastrous thing; it can kill one’s hopes, it is so influential that it makes one feel that he/she has some problem within him/her, but the actual problem lies in them, just because of other’s negativity the painter was almost convinced that he could not paint a perfect painting. Had he not listened to that wise man, he would have believed that there was a fault in him rather than realizing that the actual problem is with people.

Let aside thinking good about others, pessimists do not even think positive about themselves, neither do they hope for a better tomorrow nor do they put any effort to achieve it, they even doubt their own ability to overcome any obstacle which come across their path, confined in their own negative thoughts, they will stay where they are without making any progress, sometimes they waste years and even their entire life thinking that they can’t do anything. This is the level of negativity few people carry in they. Is it that hard to see good in everything or is it so very easy to criticize anything we come across? Why do we only focus on one small black dot in the whole white board?

As Zig Ziglar once said, ‘Life is too short to spend your precious time trying to convince a person who wants to live in gloom and doom otherwise. Give lifting that person your best shot, but don’t hang around long enough for his or her bad attitude to pull you down. Instead, surround yourself with optimistic people'.

Let us not allow others’ perception/views/opinions on you, either positive or negative to have a huge significance on your life, how you perceive a particular situation is what that matters, whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right both ways, because you have taken your heart’s consent here. The main perpetrator behind this negative thinking is ‘A Doubt’ in your mind which says that you can’t do it, doubt killed more dreams than failure ever did. A small doubt in mind before starting any work and the damage has already been done. Hold on and confront your mind whenever a doubt strikes your mind that some idea you are contemplating won’t work, if it is still a bad idea even after you have explored it thoroughly, why not give it a try rather than procrastinating or getting rid of it, there isn’t anything wrong in it, at most you will fail, at least you will gain some experience, there is no gain in focusing on the difficulties, instead focus on the possibilities.

Kill the doubt, not the idea!!!

Do not be a pessimist who sees a difficulty in every opportunity, be an optimist who sees an opportunity in every difficulty. If you have confidence in yourself, no one can stop you from moving ahead and achieving your goals.

• ?We must understand the power of positive thinking, believe that more good things than bad will happen to us, I have always believed that optimism brings Inner peace, success, improved relationships, better health, happiness, satisfaction, so on, try taking out 5 minutes time out of your day to recall a pleasant moment in your life and smile about it, or try recollecting couple of good things happened to you at the end of the day before going to bed or early in the morning next day, the good things need not be very significant things or milestones, simple things which make you happy.

This I feel would open us to feel how blessed and may as well help us see positive through anything we pursue.

I recommend you all to try that out once in a while. It truly changes your mood. I am ready for it, are you?

This articles credit goes to my superior Dheeraj Kumar Suryavanshi