Are you an optimist? Did you know that optimists are said to have certain characteristics? Do you know the 5 characteristics of optimists?
Optimists are any age.
Bill mentioned in another post, could do well to listen to motivating speakers.
However, even optimists may have been challenged during the Covid19 pandemic.
Recently I was privileged to hear the uplifting and stimulating Victor Perton speak on Optimism.
He knows a lot about Optimism: ‘a belief that good things and times will happen’.
Victor emphasised that optimism was not ‘Pollyanna thinking’.
He’s the author of “Optimism: The How and Why” and “The Case for Optimism: The Optimists’ Voices”
Victor is also a Director of The Centre for Optimism and Founder of the Australian Leadership Project.
Victor believes that ‘Optimism is the underpinning of resilience and we need to foster it throughout the community’.
A politician for 18 years, he retired from politics and has been a barrister, mediator, arbitrator, businessman and board member. He was a vice-commissioner to the Americas and an adviser to the G20 Conference in 2014.
Victor has seen a diminishing of optimism in Australia in the last 20 years – so he set up the Australian Leadership Project: ‘Celebrate, Understand and Improve Australian Leadership’.
In 2017 Victor was speaking at the Global Integrity Summit. His speech was very well received. Helen Clark, former NZ Prime Minister who is now co-chair of a World Health Organisation panel, suggested he turn his speech and experiences into a book.
Victor is also a Director of The Centre for Optimism.
He likes to ask, ‘What make you optimistic?’
According to Victor being optimistic is very important for health – in fact it is a very important predictor.
Bendigo in regional Victoria recently held a ‘Voices of Optimism’ campaign, in which the Centre for Optimism had input.
You can read more about Bendigo’s Voices of Optimism here
‘All great leaders have infectious optimism’.
What are 5 characteristics of optimists? Victor mentioned 5:
*Being able to laugh.
*Smiling to people (do you know it’s often reciprocated!?)
*Optimistic greetings: ‘What’s the best thing happening?’
*Meditation, prayer, exercise and yoga all stimulate the frontal lobes of the brain.
*Life experience, faith, family, advances in science and prosperity were all mentioned as sources of optimism.
You can find out more about the Centre for Optimism here
Also: Recent research from Israel has shown that being optimistic can extend your life:
[…] optimists have a better […]
Thank you!!