Walk With Him: We Can, and Should Be, Optimists

Martin Seligman, PhD, shared his research on the difference between optimists and pessimists in his book, Learned Optimism. It proposes that one can learn to be more optimistic by changing three thinking patterns–permanence, personalization, and pervasiveness. Pessimists view bad events as permanent. They also take everything personally and make problems bigger than they actually are.

Reading Isaiah this week, it would be very easy to be a pessimist and lose hope that anything good happened back then, today, or in the future. “The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter. There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished” (ESV Isaiah 24:10, 11). “All joy has grown dark”- isn’t that the perfect description of reading the news today?

Optimists understand that bad things are temporary. The sunrise turns darkness into light. The rain stops, and rainbows rise. The tide comes in and goes out. Loved ones who leave can return. The eternal plan is one of restoring that which is broken. Because of Him, there is always hope amid the hard. “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (ESV Isaiah 35:10).

“I testify that my Christ is my hope. He is my hope on rainy Monday mornings, my hope on dark nights, and my hope in the face of death and despair…I testify that the forces of life are always stronger than the forces of death.” (Sister Chieko N. Okazaki)

“The spirit of the gospel is optimistic; it trusts in God and looks on the bright side of things. The opposite or pessimistic spirit drags men down and away from God, looks on the dark side, murmurs, complains, and is slow to yield obedience.” (Elder Orson F. Whitney)