It’s all in the approach.
For example, when you look at this picture, what do you see?
It depends on your mindset of course which McLandburgh Wilson explained in 1915:
“Twixt the optimist and pessimist
The difference is droll
The optimist sees the doughnut
But the pessimist sees the hole.”
Optimist and Pessimist (c.1915)
On every box of Mayflower Donuts, there used to be ‘The Optimists Creed’
As you ramble on through life, brother,
Whatever be your goal,
Keep your eye upon the doughnut,
And not upon the hole.
You might actually see the doughnut but focus on what’s around it.
Then there is this classic. What do you see?
With this particular image, there are some quite inventive variations but all go to illustrate the power of your world view.
Here’s another. What do you see?
“The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.”
―
Let’s keep ’em coming. What do you see?
IMPOSSIBLE
The pessimist will see the word impossible but the optimist will see I’m possible. Napoleon Bonaparte clearly falls into the later category when he says “Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”
How about one more? What do you see?
Let Winston Churchill answer this one:
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”
Your world view shapes you and how you approach life. Here’s one of my favourites from Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket :
“If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say in a pleasant and hopeful voice, “Well this isn’t too bad, I don’t have a left arm anymore but at least nobody will ever ask me if I’m left-handed or right-handed,” but most of us would say something more along the lines of, “Aaaaaa! My arm! My arm!”
Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid
The point is what you see is what you get and this all boils down to the mental glasses you are wearing and your intellectual perspective on the world or universe.
If you are pessimistic then looking on the bright side won’t dazzle you. An optimist doesn’t need to look on the bright side because they already believe the future is bright.
What do you see?