Optimist and pessimist: the meaning of the words, how they differ

The explanatory dictionary gives the following definitions for the words “optimism” and “pessimism”:

Optimism (from Latin Optimus - “best”) is the tendency to see the good sides of everything in life, to believe in success and a successful outcome of something.

Pessimism is a gloomy, joyless outlook on life, a tendency to see everything in a gloomy light; sad mood.

In essence, optimism and pessimism are two sides of the same coin: the front, bright and joyful, and the back - gloomy and gray. However, there is another important term in the explanatory dictionary - realism. It denotes the ability to clearly understand and realistically evaluate the surrounding reality when implementing something. An optimist and a pessimist are two extremes, between which lies the birth point of a realist. Realism comes when the expectation of good and bad in a person comes to a certain state of balance.

Which view of the world is better?

There is an opinion that the best way to perceive the world is optimistic. After all, who is an optimist? This is someone who never loses heart, sees only the good sides in everything, does not think about the worst, and is able to find positive aspects in any trouble.

The importance of optimists in our lives cannot be overestimated: employers love them for their ability to forgive bullying, and for the fact that they calmly treat overtime and never escalate the situation. Colleagues - for their kindness and mutual assistance. Neighbors - for a calm atmosphere in the house. Our psyche cannot stand discomfort and tries with all its might to avoid it, so an optimist is a person whose communication evokes positive feelings. While a pessimist is the type of personality that everyone runs away from like fire: a quarrelsome, bilious, eternally dissatisfied subject, capable of ruining anyone’s mood with complaints. If you characterize a person, the word “optimist” immediately tells the interlocutor a lot due to his positive outlook on life.

Who is a romantic? The meaning of the word "romantic"

1. Follower of romanticism (in 1 and 2 meanings). From this work alone one can get an idea of the author’s “self-disclosure,” the most essential feature of the music of the Romantics. S. A. Morozov, Music stays with you.

2. Someone who is romantically inclined is prone to daydreaming, to idealizing people and life. Khor was a positive, practical man, an administrative head, a rationalist; Kalinich, on the contrary, belonged to the number of idealists, romantics, enthusiastic and dreamy people. Turgenev, Khor and Kalinich. || Someone who is imbued with romance has an emotional, sublime attitude towards something. Romantics of the sea.

Source (printed version): Dictionary of the Russian language: In 4 volumes / RAS, Institute of Linguistics. research; Ed. A. P. Evgenieva. — 4th ed., erased. - M.: Rus. language; Polygraph resources, 1999; (electronic version):

ROMANTIK, a, m. 1. A supporter of romanticism in literature or other forms of art (book). The struggle of romantics with classics. 2. transfer A person who is romantically inclined, prone to daydreaming, to idealizing people and life. They laughed at his youthful enthusiasm and called him a romantic. Goncharov.

The dangers of excessive optimism

Few people think that an overly rosy view of the world can be even more dangerous and unpleasant for the optimist himself than the gloomy perception of reality by a chronic pessimist.

Often optimism goes hand in hand with kindness and a reluctance to create conflict situations, argue, or defend one’s point of view. This means that such a person, being offended or finding himself in an unpleasant situation due to someone else’s fault, will forgive everything instead of demanding compensation from the one who is to blame. And, if in everyday life this only harms the optimist himself and his family (“Did the neighbors flood? Why fight with them, we’ll restore everything at our own expense”), then at work it can result in serious troubles for the entire organization.

An optimist, unlike a pessimist, can underestimate the situation, hoping for a good outcome, and if something unpleasant happens, he will be confused.

The pessimist is ready for trouble, and therefore has a plan for the worst case scenario, but the optimist finds himself face to face with misfortune, the possibility of which he did not even think about - it simply never occurred to him that everything could be so bad!

Who is an idealist? The meaning of the word "idealist"

1. Follower of idealistic philosophy. All those philosophers in whose eyes matter is the primary factor belong to the camp of materialists; nevertheless, those who consider the spirit to be such a factor are idealists. Plekhanov, On the question of the development of a monistic view of history.

2. One who is completely devoted to someone. high ideals and is guided by them in his behavior and life. There have never been greater idealists in Russia who completely forgot about themselves, their personal benefits and personal interests, like the so-called “realists” of the sixties. Shelgunov, Memoirs. In Sechenov's circle he gained a reputation as an idealist, far from everything earthly. Mechnikov, In memory of N. A. Umov. Yes, in our society, which lives according to the laws of materialism, there are many idealists in the best sense of the word - people who sacrifice a lot and dear things in the name of a lofty idea. Kataev, Happiness of our youth.

3. One who tends to idealize reality; a dreamer, an impractical person. Khor was a positive, practical man, an administrative head, a rationalist; Kalinich, on the contrary, belonged to the number of idealists, romantics, enthusiastic and dreamy people. Turgenev, Khor and Kalinich. Working in intelligence, Nikolai saw everything and was by no means an idealist. B. Polevoy, Gold. Zinaida Mironovna gently took her husband’s hand: “You and I are idealists, dear.” Tonkov knows how to understand people, listen to him. Granin, The Seekers.

Pessimism has its positive sides

Who is a pessimist, according to the majority? A loser who, due to his bad character and eternal discontent, has no friends.

This is true only for the most persistent, most “ideological” pessimists, a textbook example of which can be considered a mechanic named Philidor Zeleny from Kir Bulychev’s stories about Alisa Selezneva. His immortal phrases: “This will not end well!” and “But I warned you!” can be called a reflection of the most negative side of the pessimistic view.

However, there are also conditionally “moderate” pessimists, which means that there are people who see not the whole world in black, but only its individual parts. The definition of the term itself suggests that a pessimist is someone who constantly expects meanness and misfortune from the world. And this is where his strength lies.

A true pessimist always remembers: no matter how much you hope for a successful outcome of events, the probability of an unsuccessful outcome is much higher, and in order to minimize the damage, you should, while hoping for the best, always prepare for the worst. Therefore, a pessimist who strives for self-improvement does not have to try to change his outlook on life - sometimes it is enough to develop his strengths (foreseeing troubles and preparing for them) and learn to cope with negative ones.

Positive and negative - the path to harmony

The basic goal of human life is harmony and fulfillment. From the point of view of movement along the path, emotions are one of the indicators of movement. Negativity indicates an improperly organized life. Should we be happy about mistakes? It makes sense to learn from mistakes, and to solve and unravel difficult situations.

By accumulating strength and training the mind to highlight the positive in every day of your life - desires, sensations, actions, answers from the world, it becomes possible to deepen knowledge about yourself in the experiences of sublime states. Switching from emotions to working with states. Maintaining optimism and a constructive attitude towards absolutely all the “little things” of your life. After all, it is the combination of optimistic realism and controlled pessimism that will allow you to use your mind for its intended purpose - as a source of creative self-realization and happiness in life.

The third side of the coin is the perfect rib

Realism has many meanings: for some it means a dry businessman who methodically calculates how to profitably evaluate a given situation, while others believe that an interesting extreme is better than a boring, smooth middle. In reality, being a realist means recognizing that any situation can turn out in either a good or bad direction; that life is multifaceted and does not provide ready-made answers; You can’t constantly expect troubles, but you shouldn’t hope only for joys either, so as not to be deceived.

A realist looks at the situation evenly and reasonably, makes decisions based on the actual state of affairs. He does not console himself with the thought that “tomorrow will be better,” but he also does not spoil his mood with thoughts about the troubles that may follow good luck.

Realism allows you to soberly assess those around you, your own actions, not go too far when making decisions, and makes it possible to show flexibility depending on the situation: a realist, without being tied to one extreme or another, has the opportunity to choose the type of his own reaction.

Where for a pessimist there is almost no water in the glass, and mentally he is dying of thirst, afraid to take a sip; but for the optimist there is still a lot of water, and he will die after finishing the water in one gulp; a realist will clearly calculate how quickly he can allow himself to empty his glass so as not to be left a fool.

Constructive approach to life

Thinking serves our desires, creating a bridge between dreams and reality in the form of professional and planned actions. Thinking also helps to decompose the world around us, situations, people into a language we understand and connect all processes into a single system.

Healthy thinking gives us simple life approaches to difficulties and circumstances, the ability to soberly assess, look for a way out, our own path and act. But how to identify and modernize the tactical methods of your thinking? After all, the mind is something ephemeral, abstract, at first glance manifested only through action - words, text, arithmetic operations. And if the mind is not tied to reality, a little “in itself,” then it is considered that this is already some kind of unhealthy tendency. And almost the only social norms for the development of the mind are encyclopedicism and scientific and design ingenuity. Although the mind (ideas, schemes, programs, creativity) is used by us at every moment of life in solving absolutely all everyday and business issues, and not only in its highest manifestations for the benefit of science.

And life’s wisdom brought out and hid the essence of thinking styles in the anecdotal layer of culture. An optimistic thinking style contains a basic desire to live well and happily. To do this, a person consciously lives life using himself as a source of desires, a decision-making center, a set of personal skills, individual resources and a sense of humor. The constructive thinking style contains a technical set of skills for assessing events and people according to certain parameters - prices, benefits, costs, etc. A person masters professional skills, studies processes in the world around him, accumulates resources and energy. A pessimistic style of thinking implements a program of destruction. A person consciously destroys already inadequate ideas, denies the unnecessary, superfluous, or unconsciously/uncontrollably expresses dissatisfaction, destroys everything around him and himself first of all.

Conscious and unconscious use of each thinking style has its side effects. Unconscious optimism leads to daydreaming and a preference for more rosy options for events, ignoring the real balance of power. Unconscious realism leads to excessive materiality and hoarding to the detriment of happiness. But conscious pessimism means abandoning old dogmas and habits.

Therefore, each thinking style should be recognized, taken under control and used as intended. Optimism is responsible for the formation of the vector, realism for practice, and pessimism serves as an indicator of the sick state of the system.

Optimist and pessimist - where is the guarantee of happiness?

The meaning of the word "optimist" is in no way related to the word "optimal", and this should be clearly understood: yes, people with a benevolent outlook on the world are pleasant and liked, but this does not mean that they always do everything right or are happier than rest.

Happiness is such a weightless concept that not even the most positive outlook on life will guarantee that you will receive this very thing at your personal disposal as payment for a smile, good nature and the ability to regard troubles as something positive.

At the same time, the constant expectation of failure, ironclad readiness for them and a plan for the most terrible situations in life do not guarantee that the straw placed on all sides will protect you from troubles.

Both optimists and pessimists - all these people are capable of making mistakes, not foreseeing something, not predicting it, or underestimating it. Even realism does not guarantee a happy life, however, self-improvement gives a greater chance that such changes will not pass without a trace, and this inspires hope for the best. After all, a person who has smoothed out the rough edges of his character and developed his strengths always has more friends, he exudes harmony, he evokes a positive response in the souls of those around him, and makes both himself and others happy. Who knows, maybe this is precisely the essence of happiness?

Stages of creative thinking - dreamer, realist, critic.

At one time, Walt Disney’s success strategy was so popular in NLP trainings. And people thought in confusion - why is this necessary at all and how to apply it? Although any creative act contains these stages. First, there is a certain task and, entering the state of “new forms”, a person creates many variants of ideas, designs, then continuing the creative process, this somehow correlates with reality - what corresponds to the current tasks, whether the product works or not for these tasks, what are the production times and costs the final product and includes the stage of criticism - cutting off the superfluous, unnecessary, redundant. Again he thinks out, fantasizes, and so on until a successful outcome.

This is a simplified model of the styles of optimism, constructiveness, and pessimism. Here optimism is taken in its extreme form - daydreaming, free imagination. And pessimism at its best is criticism to the point.

List of negative personal qualities for a resume

However, when applying for a job, it is worth considering that your employer may not like some qualities, despite the fact that in other areas of life they can have a positive effect. An example would be emotionality

- your boyfriend may be delighted with this trait, but it will not at all arouse optimism in your potential boss if you are applying for the position of cashier or waiter.
Shyness
can be added to the list of negative personal qualities for a resume - it may be greeted with affection by many people, but it will be completely inappropriate in some positions.
independence
can be interpreted differently - some employers will perceive it simply as an inability to work in a team.

In addition, in some organizations you are unlikely to benefit from being straightforward.

– sometimes it borders on a lack of tact, impoliteness, and is simply undesirable in certain situations and, especially, in the service sector.
Think carefully before you include such a quality as integrity
- it is also far from a priority for many employers and causes obvious wariness on their part.

Features of manifestation

To be a pessimist means to perceive everything in black terms. The entire environment for such people is hostile and bad. Often reasoning comes down to the fact that everything will end in death, any actions are filled with suffering. They perceive any situation as dangerous.

Any holidays or fun events lead to a decadent mood. Typical traits of a radical pessimist:

apathy;
exaggeration of problems;
sarcasm, penchant for dark humor;
touchiness;
lack of determination;
reluctance to change something in life;
self-criticism.

Not all of the above are always found in humans. He can only have certain traits. Unlike a pessimist, a realist perceives the world critically and takes into account the conditions of reality. He is not always in a depressed mood. Therefore, “realism” cannot be considered synonymous with “pessimism”.

If a person sometimes perceives the world negatively, this is normal. But with a passive attitude towards life, you can get various bad consequences. Depression develops against the backdrop of dissatisfaction with life, and motivation ends. With such an illness, it is difficult for a pessimist to break out of his usual state.

Constant self-humiliation and self-flagellation leads to health problems. When a person is constantly in a negative mood, this negatively affects his performance. Due to poor initiative, irresponsibility and conflicts with colleagues, there is no career growth.

The philosophy of pessimism is that a person does not expect anything good from life. He does not enjoy his activities and does not value their results highly. Because of skepticism, all plans and aspirations are perceived as unrealistic.

Practice

1. Train in every day of your life to find positivity in desires, experiences, actions and answers from the world. 2. Remove all negative thoughts about yourself. 3. Monitoring your thinking, switch all negative thoughts into a constructive and benevolent direction. 4. Strengthen your desire to live well, productively, happily, for the benefit of yourself and other people.

In general, analysis of the topic is good - but conversation is always better.

1. Ask yourself what you are not comfortable with, where the results are not what you want. 2. Mentally give yourself permission to live richer, happier, more productive. 3. Write to WhatsApp +7 926 6970047. And I personally will help you a lot with coaching. Because I know how to help, I know how and love to help people live better.

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Self-confidence or rose-colored glasses

These days, so-called positive thinking is actively promoted. We are told to smile no matter what happens, to look for something good in any situation, even when things are at their worst, and not to talk about our problems so that others think that everything is fine with us...

In certain situations this works. Positive thinking helps us gain strength and believe in ourselves. For example, if he doesn’t get into university, an optimist will say to himself: “Well, no luck this time - better luck next time!” He will work hard even if things don't work out because he is convinced that success is achievable.

Optimists behave in the same way in their personal lives. They won't be too upset about not being reciprocated and will simply look for another relationship. Or they will try to win the person they are in love with. And such a strategy often brings results. Finally, positive people have the ability to attract us to themselves, and this is a very valuable quality.

At the same time, optimists tend to look at the world through “rose-colored glasses” and this causes big problems. It is precisely such people who often fall for scammers - it simply does not occur to them that someone could commit a bad act. They are carefree and usually do not save for old age or a rainy day.

In addition, they tend to take out loans that they then cannot pay off, invest money in financial pyramids and various dubious projects

Caution is not at all characteristic of them

Optimists rarely think about possible difficulties. They can brush off the problem until it becomes a real problem, and they let everything take its course.

Optimists do not like to go to the doctor, because they are sure that they cannot get sick with anything serious. And therefore, their diseases are often discovered in an already advanced state.

Caution or suspiciousness

Few people like pessimists, because their tediousness annoys everyone. But they are less likely than optimists to find themselves in unpleasant and dangerous situations, since they are not inclined to trust unfamiliar people and try to plan for everything. For example, if they leave the house, they must put an umbrella and a gas canister in their bag to protect them from hooligans and robbers. They will never go on vacation without a first aid kit, will not leave children and pets unattended, will not go to play in a casino and will not risk money even with the most tempting prospects.

When making plans for the future, a pessimist will definitely thoroughly calculate everything, weigh all the pros and cons.

At the slightest ailment, a pessimist will go to the doctor, and this will help recognize the disease at an early stage. He is also more likely than an optimist to follow medical instructions and lead a healthy lifestyle. By the way, according to statistics, pessimists live longer than optimists.

Now about the sad thing... Negative thinking often makes a person unhappy and does not allow him to achieve success. For example, if a pessimist was once dumped by a girl, he may in the future begin to avoid girls altogether, since “they are all like that.” Having failed at a university, he is unlikely to enroll there again, since he is sure that it is “not for him.”

A pessimist can work for years in a low-paid job and endure the nagging of his superiors, because he is convinced that he will never find another option... In a word, pessimism prevents him from changing his life for the better, from seeing prospects and opportunities.

Most people instinctively try to avoid pessimists because they don't like constant talk about the bad. In addition, the chronic stress that pessimists experience in trying to “protect themselves” from the vicissitudes of life ultimately undermines their health. Even if they live longer than optimists, they still suffer from illnesses, if not real, then imaginary...

Positive thinking - balance of abstract and logical

The left and right hemispheres of a person provoke mental activity of different qualities.

At first glance, positive and negative are the activities of the right, abstract, emotional-sensual hemisphere. But the root of positivity is not in emotions, but in reasonable desires, strategies and attitude towards oneself. Whereas emotions are only a superficial consequence, and not the root cause. And after logical work, the right hemisphere turns on, emotions and imagination get down to business and look for joyful moments in life, not for the sake of empty fun during a crisis, but to maintain a constructive emotional tone for the benefit of intuition and a clear mind.

Positive thinking strategies are a purely logical and pragmatic system of relating to yourself and the world, which invites you to look at yourself and life in a holistic, expanded way.

But again, our habits of changing something and acting from the negative, the negative, do not allow us to live productively using the apparatus of positivity. After all, when everything is good and wonderful, everything stops and falls asleep. Therefore, various methods of super-positive attitude towards failures, weaknesses, conflicts often stumble over the system’s powerlessness to self-organize in the absence of a stimulating whip. When “evil” forces us to do at least something, and “good” freezes us in laziness and leads to degradation, is “evil” and negativity bad? Good is good, and lunch is on schedule.

Therefore, the introduction of a positive mind should begin with a sober analysis of your entire life, and not just the development of positive and constructive reactions to what is happening and regular monitoring of the mind based on internal dialogue. At the same time, it is important to categorically avoid artificial smiles at the time of failures or problems.

Optimism and pessimism are just the colors of a realist who, using a constructive approach to life, has acquired an emotional habit of a certain quality. And due to his character traits, he is a little more expressive and energetic. Also, obvious pessimism speaks of chronic problems in the area of reason; a person, using incorrect strategies and habits, gradually drives himself into hell, increasing discontent, claims and grievances against the world every day.