Why is realistic thinking better than optimistic thinking?

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Most people think that positive thinking is the secret to happiness. In fact, both optimistic and pessimistic thinking bring bad things. So, thinking realistically is considered to have many benefits for your physical and psychological well-being.

1. The role of real-life thinking

Optimistic thinking and pessimistic thinking tend to take your mind into an imaginary world. With unrealistically optimistic thinking, you are always thinking about the best that can happen in the future. In contrast, pessimistic thinking tends to lead you to think about bad things that could happen, which in turn produces more depression and anxiety. These thoughts do not match reality and cause health and psychological effects.
Optimistic and pessimistic thinking are at the two ends of a rope, the middle point being real problems. So, thinking realistically helps you to have a concrete view of the world, the problems you are facing and how to solve them instead of wallowing in feelings of frustration or self-deception.
In fact, there are two types of optimistic thinking in people: Unrealistic optimism often leads people to believe in good things to happen without focusing on their current decisions; Realistic optimistic thinking - the type of thinking in people who are easy to achieve success in life. Research by Dr. Heidi Grant at Harvard University shows that optimists actually believe that they will succeed, but they know that to achieve that success they have to work hard, put in a lot of effort and effort. Always keep an optimistic spirit, believe in your own strength to bring good things, even in difficult conditions. Specifically, the model of realistic optimists often has the following characteristics:
Define specific goals; Specific planning, careful strategy; Implement the plan to achieve the set goal with much effort, effort and perseverance. Another important role of pragmatic or pragmatic thinking is to help keep your mind in the present moment. When you think in the present moment, you can tune in and feel what's happening around you. For example, you can begin to pay more attention to the following activities:
Feelings after conversations with relatives and family; Feel the experience of trips like an extended hike... Feel the sounds around life; Scientists have studied the level of people's expectations and compared them with the results achieved from those expectations. The parameter shows that the highest level of happiness is related to realistic thinking. From that, it can be concluded that realistic thoughts bring people more happiness. Besides, realistic thoughts also help people build better handling skills in any difficult situation.

2. How to become a realistic thinker?

Through understanding what realistic thinking is, the role of realistic thinking or optimistic thinking will help you take action to become a real thinker. Some of the measures can be mentioned as follows:
Don't stress too much and hope for the positive: People who are too focused on getting things to work out the way they hope are often disappointed or have worse results. Because when you put too much hope on something that hasn't happened, you will likely receive a lot of disappointment when you know the outcome. This will inadvertently create stress, depression, frustration and reduce your current sense of happiness; Practice mindfulness: Realistic thinking helps you connect with current events, real life. Practicing mindfulness is one of the effective ways to help you think realistically. The steps to doing a mindfulness exercise are as follows: Sit quietly; Eyes closed; Focus your mind and thoughts on your breath; Slowly becoming aware of sounds, sensations and ideas; Let each thought or feeling pass you by without judging anything; Continue to focus on your breath again.

According to psychology, you can come to know your true and honest self through mindfulness, finding out who you are and accepting yourself as authentically as possible is healthy and brings great benefits. mental health and cognition. Because imaginary, unrealistic thoughts cause you feelings of stress and anxiety. So, let go of unrealistic optimism, start realistic optimistic thoughts to be real, train yourself, and live a planned life with clear goals will help you to be able to Expect more realistic results and better mental health in the future.

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Reference sources: webmd.com, advice.theshineapp.com