Have you ever had a feeling that everything is going to be alright, despite the obstacles and misfortunes you are facing in life? Have you ever been fed up with the pessimistic forecasts and negative thoughts of those who are thinking about the problems of the society? Have you questioned the traditional ways of dealing with each new obstacle you face? If you answer yes to those questions, you might be on the way to becoming a rational optimist. And this, in turn, might become one of the best decisions you have ever made. 

Can you be a realist and an optimist at the same time?

So, what is a rational optimist? Like Matt Ridley, the British scientist and businessman, explains in his book “The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves,” the rational optimist is someone who does not only follow his instincts to become an optimist but arrives at it by seeing the evidence. If you look back at the human history, the battles we fought, the trophies we won, the knowledge we obtained, you will see that we have been incessantly evolving.  Listen to the summary at Blinkist.  So have our living conditions. There will always be people who would complain about living at the most difficult period of human history. Those would say that life in the past was better/easier/more moral. But wait a second. If that was true, how would you explain all those deaths from diseases which can be treated today thanks to the modern medicine, but were inevitable in the past, because of lack of those? How would you explain that devastating social inequality and the highest rates of poverty, due to the insufficient interaction and lack of means of communication and exchange between people? You can be an optimist, relying on the evidence, statistic data, and analysis of human history and development of economics. That means that you will still be a rationalist, operating with actual data to prove your point of view. Listen to the book at Audible.

Having the right attitude to the dangers facing human society

There is no doubt that the modern society is facing a lot of dangers, starting from the climate change and finishing with overpopulation in certain regions of our planet. However, if you start studying these things deeper, you will soon realize that many of them are exaggerated to destabilize the situation or to gain some benefits for particular products or services. There are lots of reasons to be optimistic about our life and current issues the modern society has as well as those we might encounter in the future. By looking into examples in each area of our existence, say, science, history or economics, you can see that the human race is moving forward, developing more innovative solutions to tackle the world’s problems. This is all about being a rational optimist. You do not have to rely on your intuition or some illusory idea because sometimes your intuition can play a bad joke on you. All you need are the facts, proven data, which will let you make proper conclusions about this or that event. If you have the right attitude to the world’s problems, then you can see the ways they can be solved. In recent years the technological progress has boosted, giving us lots of opportunities to solve those issues. 

The Power of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking has proven to be a driving element of progress. Being a rational optimist, you possess the unique power to reach your goals and have the life you have always wanted. Even if things seem hopeless, or if everyone keeps insisting they are hopeless, just do some research. Investigate. Keep your mind sharp and inquisitive. Analyze the information, and learn more every single day. That will help you see things differently, from another perspective. And you will realize that those things are much lighter when you look at them from another angle. So is our future. It is brighter than you have probably thought before. We are moving forward; we never stop evolving. Just look around. All those things you see around you, all those things you use on a daily basis were created by people, same people like you and me. People, who have had their ups and downs, doubts and concerns. But those same people never stopped thinking positively. How do we know that? Just look at what they have created! They made our world better. So do you. With every action, with every positive thought, you make this world better. You are changing, shaping, improving it. It is all up to you. If you choose positive thinking and active life position, you are going to achieve a lot in life. You are going to become the inspiration for others. You are going to mold this world and make it a better place. So, this is the right time to become a rational optimist and change your mindset as well as the world surrounding you!