Our society values blind optimism.

[Tonus]

Does anyone feel that keeping an optimistic attitude is every a good idea? I think optimism is just a way of trying to ignore the reality of a situation and hoping it will go away.

I just finished reading Dave McRaney's latest book, and he tells how researchers found that people who looked at themselves honestly and realistically were more likely to be depressed than people who had a much more positive view of themselves than is warranted. In other words, the way to be happy and to have a fulfilling life is to lie to yourself about how great you are and how awesome your life is. Conversely, the way to be depressed and feel hopeless is to have either a poor view of yourself and the world... or a perfectly accurate one.

The world we "see" is mostly the world we tell ourselves is in front of us. If you're convinced that things will always work out, you focus on the things that do and you rationalize the things that don't. If you're convinced of the opposite --that life sucks and everything is shit-- then you'll focus on the things that go wrong and dwell on them, and you'll dismiss the good things as anomalies. It's the classic "glass half full/half empty" approach.

The good news: happiness and fulfillment are mostly states of mind that almost anyone can achieve. The bad news: most people won't achieve them because they don't accept that it's possible.