Cultivating an optimistic personality can add years of happiness to your life. Positive people enjoy life more than Debbie Downers, but they also have a 35% lower risk of heart attack, cardiovascular death, and stroke. They also have a 40% lower risk of dementia than the most pessimistic people. However, many people question the power of optimism because they see it as a Pollyannaish, pie-in-the-sky outlook that makes positive people appear naive or removed from reality. That type of positivity is actually known as toxic positivity, the type where people ignore the facts and respond to every problem with, “Don’t worry, everything will be okay.” What is practical optimism? Dr. Sue Varma, a psychiatrist and cognitive behavioral therapist based in New York City, has found over her 20-plus years in practice that the happiest people she works with have a common personality trait: Practical Optimism. “Through my research and clinical work, I started to learn that there was something in the secret sauce of optimism,” Varma writes for Medcircle. “It was not only having a positive outlook; it was learning, through actionable, concrete, behavioral skills, how to turn positive outlooks into positive outcomes. And that is what Practical Optimism is—a mindset, skill set, and action set. Varma says that when people use this approach, it can make a huge impact on their lives. “It’s an action set, a skill set, and a tool set that helps you take positive outlooks and turn them into positive outcomes,” she says. She outlines the entire framework in her book, Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being.  Varna also explained why pessimism prevents people from achieving their goals. “The problem with pessimism is twofold,” Varma told The Huffington Post. “You overestimate the risk of bad things happening, and you underestimate your ability to deal with it. Practical optimism helps you get more accurate in your assessment of risk―and then beefs up your coping mechanisms.” For those looking for a simple way to begin this practice, Varma has 4 Ms, the four habits that are non-negotiable if you want to live a happy life with a positive outlook. She explained them on an episode of Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Raising Teens and Tweens podcast, featuring Lisa Damour. Dr. Sue Varna’s 4 Ms 1. Mindfulness “Do whatever you can, a couple of minutes a day to be in the moment. That could be just drinking a cup of coffee uninterrupted. It could be enjoying a sunset, being here present in whatever way. It could be doing a meditation, totally up to you. But [make sure you’re] doing something single-mindedly,” Varma said. 2. Mastery “Doing something that you do just for the fun of it, for nobody else but you. And you don’t even have to be a master to experience mastery. You just have to want to get better at something,” Varma said. A man learning to cook. Credit: Canva 3. Movement “Movement allows the production and release of endorphins, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, giving an instant change in body chemistry. Walk, cycle, garden, run, hike, play with kids, swim, exercise, work out, sports, skating, and many other options. Simply move to see an improvement in your mental health,” she told Providence Behavioral. 4. Meaningful engagement “I feel like a lot of people in relationships, friendships, young people especially, there’s something called the shallowing hypothesis, that they’re not going very deep in their friendships,” Varma said. “So when you do connect with someone, share a little bit, something vulnerable. She added that it’s important to stop being afraid of asking others for help. “That’s how we get close to one another, right? Like sharing our challenges and asking for help, asking for advice,” she said. Ultimately, Varma dives deeper into the idea of optimism and sees it as more than an outlook; it is an action. And the great thing is that when we combine an optimistic outlook with positive action, happiness is sure to follow. The post After 20 years in practice, a psychologist found ‘Practical Optimism’ is key to happiness appeared first on Upworthy.