I Declare Optimism October
Happiness comes from within
Let’s focus on lifting our baseline happiness
I Declare Optimism October
“There is not a lot to be optimistic about in the world is there?” When I heard someone say that recently, I had to think. I have lots to feel grateful but I turn on the news to some new horror, human and animal suffering, climate disasters, financial strain and instability. We need something to feel good about!
Or do we need to start feeling good so that we can handle the world around us?
Reasons why October sucks
Personally I find that October can be beautiful in the change of seasons but I notice that something shifts in my outlook and I never could work out why. Here are a few ideas why that might be.
Inner sunshine
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a condition can be triggered by lack of daylight in the winter months. As the northern hemisphere moves deeper into the darker months of the year, we can get a little sad. Although this can be driven by changes in hormones like melatonin and serotonin we can also make changes in our lifestyle to improve serotonin levels. Luckily eating dark chocolate is one of those things! I choose chocolate as my inner sunshine!
The October Effect
There is even a thing called ‘The October Effect’: according to Investopedia this is effect is a perceived market anomaly that stocks tend to decline during the month of October. But get this.. it is actually considered to be the effect of psychological expectation. We make it happen because we think it’s going to happen.
Happiness comes from the inside
Happiness studies have shown that our circumstances don’t actually account for our happiness. We might get spikes and dips but we eventually end up back at the internally driven baseline. So winning the lottery, getting a promotion, losing our jobs, having an accident, etc. might have a temporary effect on us. But we will go back to our default or baseline level of happiness.
Let’s change that baseline!
So as we kick off this month and with the expectation that October might feel a bit low, let’s decide it won’t be! I want to offer you a month of Optimism. Enough with the reasons why it is normal to be feeling down in October… Let’s choose a new trajectory for October.
I wanted to fill my own mind with optimistic thoughts and ideas and I get the feeling that it might have a positive ripple effect so I hereby declare this Optimism October
#OctoberOptimism
