Cultivating optimism is a skill we all need

Look around these days and you'll find a lot of reasons to feel pessimistic. Our cost of living is shooting up, COVID is sticking around, the weather keeps going crazy. I'm sure you have your own list of stressors.

Researchers believe that pessimism - feelings of sadness and helplessness - are part of why we've seen such an increase in opioid overdoses.

Now, I'm no Pollyanna. I see things every day in my work as a patient advocate that make me feel pessimistic about the health care system in this country. Yet, it remains true that optimism, whether you come by it naturally or have to work at it, plays an important role in physical and emotional well-being.

People newly diagnosed with cancer who have lower levels of helpless/hopeless feelings cope better emotionally after surgery, one study found. A 2019 analysis of 15 studies involving 229,000 people suggested that optimism is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality.

The mechanism by which optimism helps us isn't well understood, so researchers from Boston, Harvard and Northwestern universities dug into that. Their study, published in March in the Journal of Gerontology, suggests, based on research with a small group of older men, that how early we regulate our emotional responses to a stressful incident has a lot to do with overall feelings of optimism and well-being.

It's not that optimistic people don't get stressed or don't experience feelings of negativity. It's more that they are able to keep themselves from ruminating or going down a rabbit hole in response to stress. In other words, they have superior coping skills.

Does a positive outlook make a person healthy, or does being healthy lead to a positive outlook? It could come down to the fact that people who are positive engage in healthy behaviors - perhaps they are more likely to eat a healthy diet, exercise and not smoke. We don't know the answer to that yet.

Meanwhile, though, researchers have suggested there may be a benefit in creating interventions designed to promote optimism or reduce pessimism. There's no reason why, though, you can't start cultivating optimism in yourself.

Here are a few ideas:

• Smile!

Smiling stimulates brain patterns that reinforce feelings of happiness and optimism. In short, our brain feels good and tells us to smile; we smile, then our brain feels good, and on and on.

Smile when you wake up, whenever you pass a mirror, whenever you pass another person. Ros Ben-Moshe, author of "Laughing at Cancer: How to Heal with Love, Laughter and Mindfulness," says "Optimism can be found in a heartfelt smile that spreads from one face to another."

If you need another reason to smile, Tuesday, May 31, is National Smile Day! Dr. Tim Stirneman, a dentist in Lake in the Hills in McHenry County, is credited with founded National Smile Day. (And if you miss National Smile Day, World Smile Day is Oct. 7.)

• Imagine…

A program called Best Possible Self had study participants spend five minutes each day imagining the best possible future for themselves. Results indicated that Best Possible Self imagery led to significantly larger increases in optimism after one session and over a two-week period.

• Journal

This is something I like to do. In the morning, write down in a journal the things you are grateful for, then at night jot down the good things that happened during the day. Don't ignore negative thoughts. Write them down too, and ask yourself where they're coming from. Don't like to write? Use mindfulness to focus your thoughts on the good things.

• Disconnect

There's nothing like an endless stream of bad news to turn even the most optimistic person into a grump about things they can't control. Don't let the news control you; you control the news. Limit your viewing and social media time or (here's a novel idea!) read a newspaper.

• Do stuff

Aside from regular exercise, a stroll around the block or through a forest preserve might do wonders. Go to a concert, museum, play or an upbeat movie - preferably with someone who brings out the optimist in you.

We're all wired differently and respond differently to stressors in our lives. Pessimists may not be able to turn themselves into optimists, but adopting a few optimistic behaviors might elevate physical and emotional well-being.

• Teri Dreher is a board-certified patient advocate. A critical care nurse for 30+ years, she is founder of NShore Patient Advocates (www.NorthShoreRN.com). She is offering a free phone consultation to Daily Herald readers; call her at (847) 612-6684.