How to Be an Optimist
Optimism is something we can improve with practice. Here are five exercises rooted in scientific studies to help train your brain.
By Susan C. Vaughan, MD
PLAY INTERPERSONAL PING-PONG
If you serve up a smile to people, they usually bounce it back. Hit them with a snarl and watch them scowl instead. Research shows that facial expressions and the moods that accompany them are contagious, probably because they evolved as a means of nonverbal communication between people. You can use the infectious effects of a grin to jump-start an optimistic outlook in yourself by sending others what you want them to lob back at you. A kind word to the man behind the deli counter can get your day bouncing in the right direction.
From the February 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine