FTWMI: A Well, Well, Well(ness) [Tuesday] (w/ an excerpt) May 13, 2025

Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating the Feast Day of Julian of Norwich, Vesak / Buddha Purnima / Buddha Jayanti, Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fourth week of Pascha.

For Those Who Missed It: The following is a slightly edited version of a May 8^th post-practice post for Monday and included the prompt question, “Would you describe yourself as an optimist or a pessimist?”

Some links, dated-related context, and class information have been updated and/or added.

“optimism
n. hopefulness: the attitude that good things will happen and that people’s wishes or aims will ultimately be fulfilled. Optimists are people who anticipate positive outcomes, whether serendipitously or through perseverance and effort, and who are confident of attaining desired goals. Most individuals lie somewhere on the spectrum between the two polar opposites of pure optimism and pure pessimism but tend to demonstrate sometimes strong, relatively stable or situational tendencies in one direction or the other. See also expectancy-value model. —optimistic adj.”

— quoted from the American Psychological Association’s APA Dictionary of Psychology

Take a moment to consider how your outlook on life (and future events) factors into the way you move through your life and engage future events. Are you an optimist or a pessimist? I tend to describe myself as an optimist — who can be pessimistic about certain things; but there are people who would (credibly) argue that I am a pessimist. Maybe that makes me a realist.

Or maybe, as indicated by the American Psychological Association (APA), I’m just like most people: somewhere in the middle.

It all comes down to perspective and that perspective can change the way we interact with ourselves, with other people, with challenges, with new experiences, and even with our physical and mental health. In 2009, a group of researchers presented a paper (published in May 2010), about the effect of optimism. The abstract of the paper indicated that being (even a little bit) optimistic can be healthy and promote wellness.

“Through employment of specific coping strategies, optimism exerts an indirect influence also on the quality of life. There is evidence that optimistic people present a higher quality of life compared to those with low levels of optimism or even pessimists. Optimism may significantly influence mental and physical well-being by the promotion of a healthy lifestyle as well as by adaptive behaviours and cognitive responses, associated with greater flexibility, problem-solving capacity and a more efficient elaboration of negative information.”

— quoted from “Optimism and Its Impact on Mental and Physical Well-Being” by Ciro Conversano,^1,† Alessandro Rotondo,^2,† Elena Lensi,¹ Olivia Della Vista,¹ Francesca Arpone,¹ and Mario Antonio Reda¹

“¹Istituto di Scienze del Comportamento Università degli Studi di Siena
²Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana
^†These authors contributed equally to the work.”

Obviously, there is a difference between being optimistic (or pessimistic) and being delusional — or, in the case of pessimism, being fatalistic and/or riddled with anxiety. In some cases, however, the difference is a matter of perspective and that perspective brings our awareness to why some people are optimistic and some people are pessimistic. Notice that the source of optimism is not addressed in the APA’s definition of optimism. Many people may point to faith as the source of their optimism — especially this time of year, when there are so many holy obligations and sacred observations (including today’s celebrations of Julian of Norwich, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fátima, and the Buddha). But, notice that the APA’s definition doesn’t even include the word “believe” — and, yet, these mental attitudes are all about what our beliefs.

Neuroscientists like Dr. Beau Lotto highlight the fact that our beliefs are at the heart of this discussion. He often directs our attention to our previous experiences and the idea that we not only interpret current events through the filter of past events, we anticipate future events based on our past experiences. To me, his explanation sounds a lot like the concept of samskara (a “mental impression”) and vasana (a literal “dwelling” place of our habits). It also highlights why someone like Julian of Norwich thought she was dying back in 1373 and why, once she recovered, she was able to “shew” her experiences in a positive and loving light.

“Your brain is, at its core, a statistical distribution. Thus, your history of experiences creates a database of useful past perceptions. New information is constantly flowing in, and your brain is constantly integrating it into this statistical distribution that creates your next perception (so in this sense ‘reality’ is just the product of your brain’s ever-evolving database of consequence). As such, your perception is subject to a statistical phenomenon known in probability theory as kurtosis. Kurtosis in essence means that things tend to become increasingly steep in their distribution… that is, skewed in one direction. This applies to ways of seeing everything from currents events to ourselves as we lean ‘skewedly’ toward one interpretation positive or negative.”

— quoted from “Chapter 5. The Frog Who Dreamed of Being a Prince” in Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently by Beau Lotto

Dr. Lotto went on to write, “We’re really talking about math when we say, ‘The optimist sees the glass as half full and the pessimist as half empty,’ though in my view maybe true optimists are just glad to have a drink in the first place!” Julian of Norwich, an anchoress and Christian mystic who lived in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, fit that definition of a “true optimist.” Her Revelations of Divine Love (Revelations of Love in 16 Shewings) — which is the oldest surviving book written in English by a woman — refers to giving thanks (through prayer) as a way to truly understand oneself and ones situation. She even gave thanks for her illness!

Although she recovered on May 13, 1873, Julian was given last rites on May 8^th, and experienced visions which she eventually related in her book. One of the most well known quotes from her book can be considered a mantra for optimists (and for those wanting to be more optimistic):

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and (in) all manner of thing(s) shall be well.”

— quoted from Chapters 1 of Revelations of Divine Love (Revelations of Love in 16 Shewings) by Julian of Norwich

The feast days for Julian of Norwich are May 8^th in Anglican and Lutheran traditions and May 13^th in the Roman Catholic tradition.

Today, May 13^th is also the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fátima in some Catholic traditions and (as referenced yesterday) celebrations of the Buddha are beginning or continuing in some Asian countries and the diaspora.

Click on the excerpt title below for more about Julian.

A Graceful Saturday & FTWMI: An “All Will Be Well” Wednesday

“Optimists are likely to see the causes of failure or negative experiences as temporary rather than permanent, specific rather than global, and external rather than internal. Such a perspective enables optimists to more easily see the possibility of change.”

— quoted from the Psychology Today webpage entitled, “Optimism” (Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff)

Please join me today (Tuesday, May 13^th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “05132020 All Will Be Well Wednesday”]

If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.

White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.

If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).

In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)

You can still click here to Kiss My Asana Now! (Or, you can also still click here to join my team and get people to kiss [your] asana!) 

### BE WELL & BE GREAT ###