Sumit Paul-Choudhury

I think you can, but I think it probably takes a lot of repetition over a lot of time, and the chances are if you haven't been doing it for a lot of your life already, you may not make that much difference.

I think it's even more polarized than that, actually. So what I eventually concluded was that the essence of optimism is openness to possibility. Because essentially, I kind of said that optimism comes into its own when you don't know what the future holds. I think the critical thing that an optimist does, and there are kind of various studies that back this up in different ways.

I think it's even more polarized than that, actually. So what I eventually concluded was that the essence of optimism is openness to possibility. Because essentially, I kind of said that optimism comes into its own when you don't know what the future holds. I think the critical thing that an optimist does, and there are kind of various studies that back this up in different ways.

I think it's even more polarized than that, actually. So what I eventually concluded was that the essence of optimism is openness to possibility. Because essentially, I kind of said that optimism comes into its own when you don't know what the future holds. I think the critical thing that an optimist does, and there are kind of various studies that back this up in different ways.

The critical thing that an optimist does, a strongly optimistic person does, is they remain open to the possibilities, to the idea that there are many possibilities that lie ahead of them. And optimists kind of tend to think about the positive ones. But I think just the very awareness that there are lots of possibilities makes you more inclined to go out and look for them and to seek them.

The critical thing that an optimist does, a strongly optimistic person does, is they remain open to the possibilities, to the idea that there are many possibilities that lie ahead of them. And optimists kind of tend to think about the positive ones. But I think just the very awareness that there are lots of possibilities makes you more inclined to go out and look for them and to seek them.

The critical thing that an optimist does, a strongly optimistic person does, is they remain open to the possibilities, to the idea that there are many possibilities that lie ahead of them. And optimists kind of tend to think about the positive ones. But I think just the very awareness that there are lots of possibilities makes you more inclined to go out and look for them and to seek them.

A pessimist, by contrast, I think it's not so much that you look at many things and look at them negatively as so much as you just don't see alternatives. I think, really speaking, in a practical sense, the opposite of optimism is fatalism. It's this idea that actually there is nothing you can do. You can only carry on down the track that you've been that you're on at the moment.

A pessimist, by contrast, I think it's not so much that you look at many things and look at them negatively as so much as you just don't see alternatives. I think, really speaking, in a practical sense, the opposite of optimism is fatalism. It's this idea that actually there is nothing you can do. You can only carry on down the track that you've been that you're on at the moment.

A pessimist, by contrast, I think it's not so much that you look at many things and look at them negatively as so much as you just don't see alternatives. I think, really speaking, in a practical sense, the opposite of optimism is fatalism. It's this idea that actually there is nothing you can do. You can only carry on down the track that you've been that you're on at the moment.

And that kind of is reflected in, so in psychology, for example, people who score highly on optimism tend to do well. It's an association rather than a causative thing. But people who are strongly optimistic tend to live longer, they tend to be healthier, they tend to be more successful. People are complicated, so there's no hard and fast rules here, but that tends to be the case.

And that kind of is reflected in, so in psychology, for example, people who score highly on optimism tend to do well. It's an association rather than a causative thing. But people who are strongly optimistic tend to live longer, they tend to be healthier, they tend to be more successful. People are complicated, so there's no hard and fast rules here, but that tends to be the case.

And that kind of is reflected in, so in psychology, for example, people who score highly on optimism tend to do well. It's an association rather than a causative thing. But people who are strongly optimistic tend to live longer, they tend to be healthier, they tend to be more successful. People are complicated, so there's no hard and fast rules here, but that tends to be the case.

People who score very low on optimism, people who score high on pessimism, that associates quite strongly with mental illness, in particular with depression. And depression is characterized, among other things, by an inability to see that there is any other way forward or to believe that you can do anything that would change your status or your situation. So I think that's the one thing, really.

People who score very low on optimism, people who score high on pessimism, that associates quite strongly with mental illness, in particular with depression. And depression is characterized, among other things, by an inability to see that there is any other way forward or to believe that you can do anything that would change your status or your situation. So I think that's the one thing, really.

People who score very low on optimism, people who score high on pessimism, that associates quite strongly with mental illness, in particular with depression. And depression is characterized, among other things, by an inability to see that there is any other way forward or to believe that you can do anything that would change your status or your situation. So I think that's the one thing, really.

I think optimism is about being able to appreciate that there are more possibilities ahead of you than you may necessarily be able to see.

I think optimism is about being able to appreciate that there are more possibilities ahead of you than you may necessarily be able to see.

I think optimism is about being able to appreciate that there are more possibilities ahead of you than you may necessarily be able to see.

Yeah, I mean, people do say that, and I don't have a lot of time for realism. I think it's a fig leaf for ignorance a lot of the time. Not all the time, but a lot of the time, someone who says they're being a realist is simply saying, I don't want to engage with the possibilities. I'm going to stick to what I know and assume that carries on.