Exemplifying the oxymoron...

Optimism. Pessimism. I saw this special on TLC this evening featuring a biopsy of optimism, as hosted by Michael J. Fox. Kind of ironic, since I fancy myself an optimist these days, but have spent the day on the couch unable to move from the magnetic forces pulling me down into the black hole of pessimism. I only caught the last half of the show, but it made the assertion that optimism is both cultural and genetic, as well as environmental. It served as a documentary following Fox as he embarked upon several different missions with the focus of discovering more about this ideal. In one scene, he visited film students in the US, as an attempt to see if actors like himself are more optimistic, as they have taken on a profession in which only about 1 in 10 people obtain work. When asked if they considered themselves optimistic, about 80% raised their hands. It then depicted his travels to Bhutan, a Buddhist community, where he visited another group of film students. When asked the same question, only two people raised their hands. He explained this by stating that in their culture, the duality of optimism vs. pessimism doesn't really exist, as they live by their faith. In Buddhism, there is no positive or negative outlook, everything just is. They see no reason to question it. They just adapt.

When I got online afterward to research more about the show, I found a post about it on beliefnet.blog.com written by Stacie Stukin. She wrote:

The thing that really struck me was his trip to Bhutan. Apparently, this small Buddhist nation situated between China and India has a government policy that dictates happiness. Instead of a Gross National Product, they've adopted the idea of Gross National Happiness. According to an article in this week's New York Times, the Bhutanese constitution clearly states that government programs should be judged by the happiness they bring rather than by the economic benefit. And Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigme Thinley says things like this: "Happiness is complete well-being...being content with what is and with what one has." Wow.

But the remarkable kicker came later in the segment, when Fox, who traveled to Bhutan to report the story, discovers being surrounded by such happiness diminished his Parkinson symptoms. He could hike up a mountain, the jerking motions that plague him dissipated and in general, this natural optimist just felt better.

Perhaps optimism vs. pessimism should be tossed onto the pile of unnecessary, and harmful, dualities. Instead of hoping for the best or expecting the worst, maybe we could just live and accept what comes. It's starting to make sense to me why Tolle proposes the practice of abandoning all labels. We are not [insert profession here]; we are not [insert familial position here]; we are not [insert personality trait here]. We just are. It can be dangerous to pigeon-hole ourselves into these defined stations. Once a person labels himself a "pessimist", he may be more inclined to view life in a cynical manner. Once a person labels himself an "optimist", he may feel guilty when at times he feels more pessimistic, as I did tonight. Of course life is going to carry us up and down. Of course at times we will fall on either side of the line. So, again, why this need to create defined barriers that only serve to hold us back? Why can't we be all things? Maybe if we learn to stop judging ourselves with these qualifiers, we will be more likely to stop judging, and hurting, others.




Is the glass half-empty or half-full? The answer: it just is. And, that's all that matters.