1. Optimism & Positive Self Talk
Aim: How can we improve our emotional health and help maintain an optimistic outlook in life?

2. Write your responses in your notebooks and be ready to share.
Do Now
Describe your general outlook on life.
Would you say you tend to focus on the positive or negative?
How do you think this outlook affects your relationships and emotional health? Why?
Write your responses in your notebooks and be ready to share.

3. Optimism vs Pessimism
What does it mean to be an optimist? A pessimist? What are the differences between them?
Optimists are people who have a generally positive outlook on life. They tend to see the good side of most situations, and expect things to work out for the best.
Pessimists are people who have a more negative outlook. They tend to focus more on the problems or challenges of a situation and expect more negative outcomes.
How can optimism help you navigate life’s ups and downs?
Are there times when pessimism might be an appropriate response or help you deal with life’s challenges? Why or why not?

4. Link between optimism and emotional health
Being optimistic is one of the characteristics of emotionally healthy people. Many experts who study human psychology believe that optimism contributes greatly to a person’s emotional health.
However, a pessimistic outlook is sometimes more realistic. Life can be challenging and bad things do happen to people. Pessimism can protect people from disappointment - if they don’t expect something good to happen, they won’t feel as bad if it doesn’t.
But in general, optimism can better help people keep their emotional balance in tough times. Being optimistic doesn’t mean a person has to refuse to look at or acknowledge negative events. Optimists tend to recover more quickly from difficult circumstances. Even when a situation doesn’t go the way they wanted, they believe that no matter how things turn out, they’ll be able to handle it.

5. Situations
Let’s look at some potentially stressful or challenging situations teens might face and explore what a pessimistic versus an optimistic view might be. Read the following situations and suggest both a pessimistic and an optimistic response to each one.
Your family is going to move to another state.
You have to work the same weekend your friends are going to a concert.
You want to try out for the basketball team but it’s very competitive.
How might taking an optimistic view in these situations contribute to positive emotional health?
How might taking a pessimistic view contribute to stress or difficult feelings?

6. Optimistic vs Pessimistic
The pessimistic response tends to focus on the problem or negative aspects of the event, and can contribute to feelings of loss, unhappiness, stress, or being left out.
The optimistic response looks for solutions or ways to reframe the situation to create more pleasant or positive feelings.
Taking an optimistic view helps people accept themselves and the situation and take more responsibility for how they feel and what they can do about the problem.

7. Survey Answer one of the following based on self-analysis.
If you consider yourself an optimist, what are some strategies you use to see the positive side of situations and events?
If you consider yourself a pessimist, can you think of some ways you could change your thoughts or attitudes to be more optimistic?

8. Ways to be Optimistic
FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE. This doesn’t mean you just ignore challenges or problems or pretend nothing bad is happening. But it does mean you look for solutions and what good might come from a situation.
THINK OF PROBLEMS AS TEMPORARY AND SPECIFIC. Optimists tend to see specific causes for their problems rather than making far-reaching general assumptions.
SEE YOURSELF AS THE CAUSE OF YOUR SUCCESS. Optimists give themselves credit when they do something well or something good happens to them. They see their achievements as the result of their own qualities, talents, or hard work.
VIEW MISTAKES AS A CHANCE TO LEARN. Optimists don’t blame themselves for setbacks or spend a lot of time being down on themselves when they make a mistake. Instead they view the mistakes as a chance to learn something and do better in the future.

9. Ways to be Optimistic
KEEP A SENSE OF HUMOR. Optimists can laugh at themselves or think of something lighthearted to say that can ease a difficult situation. Finding the humor in a situation can help you keep a positive outlook when faced with a problem.
STAY HEALTHY. Eating healthy foods, being physically active, and learning to manage stress can all contribute to feeling more positive about your life.
SPEND TIME AROUND POSITIVE PEOPLE. Optimism tends to be contagious. Being around other people who can see the potential benefits that can come from a challenge or difficult situation can help you shift your own focus.
USE POSITIVE SELF-TALK. Self-talk is all of the ideas you think to yourself or things you say to yourself over the course of the day.
All of these strategies can help you choose the positive over the negative when you’re faced with life’s challenges and stresses.

10. Negative Patterns of Thinking
Imagine a person who is always down on himself or herself. What kinds of negative things might that person think or say?
These things represent different negative patterns of thinking and negative self-talk. Remember that self-talk is all of the ideas you think to yourself and things you say to yourself. Let’s examine some common negative thought patterns and think about how we can counter them with more positive self-talk.

11. Negative Patterns of Thinking
EXPECTING THE WORST. Sometimes people predict or anticipate problems and difficulties before they happen. A person who does this all the time may be pleasantly surprised when something does go well, but expecting things to go badly keeps you in a pessimistic frame of mind, and can sometimes even contribute to a negative outcome.
OVERGENERALIZING. To generalize means to make universal or broad assumptions based on certain evidence. When people overgeneralize, they use one example or only a little bit of evidence to draw conclusions that are often incorrect.
BLAMING OTHERS. Sometimes people blame other people, the circumstances, or the world in general for the things that happen to them. This can be a way to avoid taking any responsibility for the consequences of their own choices. It also represents an external locus of control, which can keep a person from believing he or she can solve the problem or change the circumstances.

12. Negative Patterns of Thinking
REQUIRING PERFECTION. Sometimes people don’t allow themselves any room for error or making a mistake, which can cause a lot of stress and put a lot of pressure on them. It also isn’t realistic. Mistakes and misunderstandings do happen even when people are trying their best.
EXAGGERATING. Sometimes people exaggerate or magnify the importance of events or situations. This means they make something bigger than it really is.
(e.g. misunderstanding/argument with a friend)
PERSONALIZING. With this negative thought pattern, a person sees himself or herself as the cause of a negative event for which he or she was not actually responsible. It can also mean taking things personally that are not meant that way. (e.g. if someone waves at a friend at a crowded event but the friend doesn’t wave back.)

13. Negative Thinking & Emotional Health
How might these patterns of negative thinking affect a person’s emotional health?
All of these negative thought patterns can lead to negative self-talk and feelings of being discouraged, upset, or unhappy. They’re problematic because the thoughts and beliefs they cause are often unrealistic or mistaken.
Negative patterns of thinking can add to stress, which can affect your physical health, and may cause conflicts with others (social).
Negative thought patterns can also be defenses that keep a person from seeing what’s really going on in a situation and having to change or accept personal responsibility for his or her choices and behaviors.

14. Suggesting Positive Self-Talk
The first step in countering negative patterns of thinking is to become aware of when you’re using them. When you catch yourself doing one of these things and using negative self-talk, stop and take a moment to question whether the thoughts you’re having are actually true or realistic. Then you can substitute positive or more realistic self-talk to help yourself see the situation in a different way.
You will now work in pairs with examples of negative thought patterns. After reading the scenarios, suggest a positive self-talk statement that would counter the negative thinking and offer a more realistic or positive way to view the situation.

15. Summary
You can stop expecting the worst by thinking of all the possible positive outcomes and what you can do to help make them happen.
You can counter overgeneralizing by looking for exceptions or examples that contradict the assumption you’re making.
You can stop blaming others by taking responsibility for your own choices and actions and focus on what you could do in the future to avoid a similar situation or make it better.
One way to stop requiring perfection is to replace the word SHOULD with COULD. Realize that you have choices, and question your expectations to see if they’re realistic.

16. Summary
You can avoid exaggerating by looking for the big picture and trying to keep things in perspective.
If you find yourself personalizing, find a way to reframe the situation, look at other possibilities, and think of other explanations besides your own qualities or actions.

17. Complete the USING POSITIVE SELF-TALK worksheet.
Homework
Complete the USING POSITIVE SELF-TALK worksheet.