Optimism is also a reaction. The brain has a wide range of potential reactions. When we encounter a stimulus, for example a piece of information, we can react to it by putting a positive spin on it, or we can worry about it. Worrying is a form of pessimistic thinking. Depending on which is more frequent, and therefore more likely to be our reaction, we may identify as either an optimist or a pessimist. However, most of us fall somewhere in the middle of that dichotomy, even if we lean to one side more than the other. I should also let you in on a little secret: optimistic people have
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