Always look on the Bright Side of Life!

Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. - World Health Organization

Positive mental health is a presence; the presence of positive emotion, the presence of engagement, the presence of meaning, the presence of good relationships and the presence of accomplishment according to Martin Seligman in his book "Flourish." He goes on to explore physical health as it is affected by our mental state and how when we are optimistic and feel we have some measure of power/ input in our healing we are more likely to recover from illness.

If we have had experiences in our lives where we had no control over our circumstances we may have "learned helplessness." Cant you feel the weakness in that state of feeling as if there is no point, that we have no power. It goes hand in hand with pessimism and pessimists generally underachieve in their jobs, in sports, in the classroom and they are more prone to depression.

So there's a lot to be said for looking on the bright side of life, to knowing what you say and do matter, that you have the power to change things. I keep coming back to meditation and that step back we can take as we observe our thoughts and be present to ourselves. Thoughts dictate or lead to our emotions so if we can detach from the thought, knowing we are not victims of them, we can prevent the spiral into fear, gloom or helplessness.  Knowing we have the power to do this gives us mastery of our attitude and can lead to more positive emotion, to engagement and to meaning, those requirements to flourishing and health.
So no matter what circumstance we face in life there is a course of action we can take in becoming present and acknowledging our own power as Spiritual beings. As Seligman concludes "When people flourish, health, productivity, and peace follow."
I can say yes to that! Can you?