Optimism is a spell

Positive thinking has to be one of the most cliches, misunderstood, and beat to death concepts in all of spirituality. However, it's threadbare for a reason; there is some truth to the foundational idea, but the current approach misses the true power.

I was recently taking a members course by Gordon White of the Rune Soup podcast, and he mentioned the idea that optimism was a spell. The idea instantly began turning in my brain about how much more potent of a concept this was than the watered-down hermeticism of LOA. 

Before we dig into the topic, I must explain something; just thinking positive, happy thoughts is not enough. You can't spiritually bypass your way through life with saccharine sweet rose-colored glasses. At some point, you have to stop and swallow the bitter pill of reality if you want to make any meaningful impact. 

The first thing is accepting that you don't see the world as it is. You see the world how you THINK it is. That's a pretty big distinction. However, learning to be the observer of your thoughts is one of the oldest meditative principles known to man. Unless you can accept you're living in a fantasy world, you're doomed to stay stuck. But that first big bite of reality after the curtain drops and you're revealed in your rawest form isn't pleasant. It's downright painful. However, that's where the utility of optimism being a spell comes in.

Perks of optimism as a spell

• It doesn't negate the reality.

• Science can verify the impact.

• It means we can utilize it.

It doesn't negate reality like the law of attraction.

Unlike the positive thinking of LOA, optimism doesn't imply avoiding the truth, merely looking for the best possible aspect of current reality. It's the mental equivalent of learning to turn lemons into lemonade. Likewise, finding the best in a bad situation doesn't mean you don't acknowledge the bad or address it or live in fear of speaking of it; it means saying welp, that was shit, but at least I learned a lesson. 

Science can verify the impact.

I'm not going to bring up all the research; you can do the footwork yourself. So instead, I'll mention something that I take to be common knowledge, the placebo effect. If you're not familiar with this term, this is when an unsuspecting individual takes an inert substance, and they receive similar benefits to active medication. Western medicine has broadly accepted this as a fact of life, but there are obvious limits.

What does this mean on a personal level?

How you think about the situations in your life impacts your physical body, or in even more direct terms, your thoughts impact reality. However, if we accept that thoughts can make us well and create positive changes to physical reality, the opposite must also be true; they can make us ill and create unpleasant changes in the material world. Understanding this means that a strategy is needed to maximize the benefit and minimize the challenges.

How to use optimism as a spell

First things first, you've got to get honest about your circumstances. If your life is fucked up, you're working a dead-end job, you are in a dead-end relationship, or you're just a loser in general, say it. The new age concept of spiritually bypassing reality for the sake of avoiding crushing your feelings doesn't help you or anyone. So take the sting and then get on to the medicine. Remember, many other people have been in shit relationships, worked shit jobs, and been total losers but turned themselves around, so can you.

Next, you have to open up to the idea that things can change. You don't have to believe that things WILL change, just that they CAN. Maintaining this distinction from the law of attraction helps reduce the likelihood of falling into a delusional relationship with reality. Getting lost in confirmation bias and not looking at facts in a grounded way can lead to some pretty disastrous results. Let the evidence speak for itself, and don't deny what the data is telling you.*

*There is an intuitive aspect to this process, but it's nuanced and best discovered by yourself. Sometimes you have to step out on faith and the discernment needed to make wise choices when these times arises from an honest assessment of reality, not rose-colored glasses.

Lastly, it would help if you had a willingness to consistently re-enchant your world with optimism. Forewarning, it can get exhausting, and it's arguably more work than the Law of Attraction, at least initially. The reason being the LOA only focuses on love and light. I'm asking you to feel the world kicking the shit out of you, find the lesson while it's happening, and smile while doing it. The only thing that keeps you going sometimes is the fuck you attitude of not letting the universe break your spirit.

Shit happens

Optimism as a spell acknowledges that you aren't responsible for everything that happens to you. Still, you do have control over what those events mean to you. On the other hand, LOA makes your thoughts, words, beliefs the cornerstone of every problem you have. Now look, I'm all about taking responsibility for your mistakes and your life but telling myself I didn't get an outcome I wanted because I had doubt or negative self-talk about a situation is bullshit. Those things may cause issues at times, but there are other forces at play in the universe than me, and sometimes, there is no valid reason for why things happen; sometimes, shit happens. 

Turning trash into treasure

Life will shit on you at times. Ignoring that fact can make you miss a lot of lessons and growth. The advantage of optimism is you can say, "well, life just kicked the shit out of me, but what was the lesson in that shit show." You don't have to go through the cognitive gymnastics of neurotically agonizing over every word to keep the law of attraction from bringing bullshit to your door. You say how you feel and invest your energy into moving forward.

Closing Thoughts

Law of Attraction is a good set of metaphysical training wheels that can show you the power of your mind. However, at some point, you may want to upgrade your paradigm. Using optimism as a spell helps center you between the truth of the moment and the hopes of a better outcome. It gives you a clear target to work towards instead of living life from the rearview mirror. In the years ahead, we will need both clear-headed discernment and to heavily enchant optimism.