AN OPTIMIST’S TOUR OF THE FUTUREĪ year after Mark Stevenson's life took an unexpected turn, he set out to find an antidote to the dark visions of a technology-driven future that are so common in today's culture. Instead, optimism may be so important to our survival that it is built into our most complex organ, the brain. In this book, I say that people don't have a positive bias because they've read too many self-help books. In this study, researchers looked at how the brain makes hope, why we can move forward after trauma, and what makes the brains of optimistic people so different from those of people who don't have hope. This system, she found, wasn't just for remembering, but also for imagining the future. This led her to look more closely at the neural system that helps us remember these past events. These memories are usually about things that were unexpected or traumatic. Sharot has been studying "flashbulb memories" since the 9/11 attack, and he wants to know why the brain tends to "Photoshop" these images, adding contrast, enhancing resolution, inserting and deleting details. It's a fascinating and easy-to-read look at how and why our brains construct a positive outlook on life even in the worst of situations. Tali Sharot, a British neuroscientist, says this in her book The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain. Martin Seligman thinks that pessimism is easy to get out of because it's the opposite of what we're naturally wired to do. It is delivered through a medium that is so well-designed that the medium itself is part of the charm of the message. The project is an invitation to look at existential truths in a new way, in a setting that is both honest and simple. That's what you'll find in Everything Is Going To Be OK, a pocket-sized anthology of positive art from a wide range of artists, designers, and illustrators, including Brain Pickings favorites Marian Bantjes, Marc Johns, and Mike Perry. In a world full of cynicism, it's a rare and wonderful thing to find an oasis of honesty and hope. You'll also be able to see how far you've come by looking at real-world indicators of your progress. Throughout the book, you'll learn about the study and psychology of optimism, as well as hands-on tests you can do at home with your child. This pessimism will make us less likely to work for social justice in our own country. America will lose its place in the world's economy to countries that are less pessimistic than us. If this epidemic keeps going, I think that America's place in the world could be in danger. Depression isn't just about mental pain it also lowers productivity and makes people sick. Instead, it gives a clinical researcher's clear advice on how to learn the cognitive skills that will help you overcome pessimism, which Seligman says is completely doable.ĭepression has become a big problem for young people and for children in the United States today, and you'll learn this when you read this book. Learning to be optimistic: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life doesn't use the typical self-help cliches. But his second book, which came out 20 years ago, is still one of his most important. His Authentic Happiness is one of seven books that you should read about how to be happy, and his Flourish made our 2011 Summer Reading List. LEARNED OPTIMISMįor his research on learned helplessness, Martin Seligman is a regular at Brain Pickings. It's also one of the most important guides to being a thoughtful, introspective, and, yes, hopeful person. It is one of the best-selling books of all time. Since then, it has been translated into 180 languages and used in almost every medium. In 1943, Exupéry's famous novella was published. "It's very simple: It's only with the heart that one can see rightly, and what's important can't be seen with the eye." It takes you on a journey through childhood imagination to get to the heart of the world and our place in it. It's poetic, charming, and written in a way that makes you smile. It's one of our favorite books for grown-ups to read with their kids. You need to read The Little Prince, one of the most poetic and hopeful books about human life ever written. They have a wide range of tools, from the light visceral stimulation of optimistic design to the serious neuroscience findings about our proclivity for the positive. Here are seven great books that can help you do just that. We just need to embrace life's promise of happiness with open arms. In those times, we don't need to be cynical or skeptical to get by.
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