Reasons to be Cheerful. Part 3
By Steve Sharp
Optimists live longer.
People who have a rosy outlook on the world may live healthier, longer lives because they have fewer stressful events to cope with, new research suggests.
Scientists found that whilst optimists reacted to and recovered from stressful situations in much the same way as pessimists, the optimist fares much better emotionally because they had fewer stressful events in their daily lives.
How optimists minimised their stress is unclear, but researchers believe they either avoid arguments, lost keys, traffic jams and other irritations, or simply fail to perceive them as stressful in the first place.
The study conducted in America, and reported on in The Guardian, was led by Dr Lewina Lee a clinical psychologist.
“A more optimistic thought does not mean being Pollyanna-ish or ignoring risks, which is a common misconception about optimism. It may involve acknowledging our strengths, past examples of success and areas over which we have control so that we can arrive at more positive and confident outlook” she said.
It is well known that owning a pet can significantly reduce stress, and keeping stress low is one of the keys to remaining cheerful.
Dogs have the power to spread joy, especially when their human comes home.
There is further research which suggests that putting others first is a route to greater cheerfulness.
Friedrich Nietzsche argued that life’s greatest rewards spring from our experience of adversity, so helping someone through theirs brings greater satisfaction than superficial moments of pleasure.
Reasons to be Cheerful as a game of charades would be a book, a play and a song.
The book by Nina Stribbe is an award-winning comic novel about love, lust and social angst at a dental surgery in 1980. Guaranteed to lift the spirits.
The play is based around the songs of the late great Ian Dury and is a subversive musical which received mixed reviews, but most critics agreed it had a defiant and joyful quality.
The song of course is an iconic classic which lists scores of things that made Ian Dury cheerful including….
A bit of grin and bare it, a bit of come and share it.
You’re welcome we can spare it, yellow socks.
The juice of a carrot, the smile of a parrot
A little drop of claret, anything that rocks.
Steve