Optimism is not naivety if you choose it with eyes wide open.
Topics that we discuss today are: Possibility, Discernment, Optimism, Probability and Opportunity
Just Be Like This Today: “Today I am Risking Optimism”
This is a daily invitation to grant yourself permission to drop all your other nagging ‘Musts’ and ‘Shoulds’ about personal development, wellness and living a virtuous life. Just enjoy this one cup of Living Wisdom, just choose this one thing and sit with it today.
If you think you can change reality with your thoughts, you are in for disappointment. Simply thinking positively does not change what is going to happen. This is the definition of delusion. We call this blind optimism, the shadow side of which is a phenomenon we call Toxic Positivity.
Toxic positivity oversimplifies a positive mindset, neglecting the complex emotions and situations that demand more than just positive thinking. It denies genuine emotional experiences and disrupts authentic connections by dismissing valid responses to difficult challenges. Worst, it can actually impede personal and collective growth by preventing a realistic engagement with circumstances and the pursuit of meaningful solutions.
Simply thinking positively does not change what is going to happen, but it does imply its own opposite: Simply thinking negatively will also not change what is going to happen.
What does change is what you experience and what you can perceive. And that means that by not risking a discerning optimism, you can miss doors of opportunity that are open, or you can miss invitations to different outcomes, and wider perspectives because you are closed to them.
“The mind becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
—Marcus Aurelius
This famous quote has to work both ways—the fulcrum on which this turns is Discernment. Discernment is the ability to look at something impartially, without bias one way or the other. Discernment is as much about seeing what is truly there, as it is about noticing where the truth ends and our projections and assumptions begin.
This visual metaphor from this ingenious diagram by Tim Urban captures the dynamic nature of your life’s journey, showing that while some options become unavailable, new opportunities continually arise. It is a powerful representation of how past choices set the groundwork for future possibilities, but also how the future holds potential that is not yet defined. Most importantly, it illustrates how changing your perspective in the present moment, illuminates a field of possibility you would have been blind to if you had focussed only on the negative.
In the scope of everything that is true and what is possible, You cannot change what is true and what is possible, but you change what can happen, by changing your paradigm.
In this way, discernment—your capacity to see and judge well—is crucial. It helps you differentiate between what is fixed and what can be influenced, allowing you to navigate your life path more effectively by focusing your energy on areas where you can make a real impact.
What have you got to lose? If it remains true that you cannot change the past, then you cannot change what is fixed and true in the present, and the possibilities and opportunities that are closed remain closed but then equally the ones that are open remain open. You stand to lose nothing via risking optimism, provided you remain devoted to Discernment and are focused on ‘Love over Fear’.
How to Practice Discerning Optimism
Changing your stance does two things, it shifts and broadens your perspective and it shifts the paradigm you are operating within. Choosing a paradigm of possibility and opportunity is not idealistic or foolish, it is a courageous facing of risk. To make sure that you do not do this foolishly, you have to apply discernment.
This earlier post discusses the two essential stances of Equanimity and Pronoia which are essential for practicing discerning optimism:
To deepen this practice, you simply ask yourself two questions:
“How would an opportunist view this moment?” and
“What is the best that could happen if…”
Discernment is a Superpower: Fear is not Danger. Pain is not Injury. Discomfort is not Loss.
Discerning optimism requires an active, brave confrontation with the world as it is, armed with the belief that there are always avenues for positive action and improvement. It’s a refusal to be overwhelmed by adversity, underpinned by the conviction that our responses and perceptions can significantly shape our reality.
This approach doesn't ignore or diminish the severity of challenges; instead, it emphasises resilience and the proactive pursuit of a fuller understanding and effective solutions. It is about finding and fostering the strength to navigate life’s inevitable trials with clarity and self-leadership.
By not choosing discerning optimism, you are beaten not by your circumstances, but by your own lack of courage.
Just be like this today: “Today I am Risking Optimism. ”
Fuck Yeah!
Until next time,
Rocco
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