One of my LinkedIn friends asked those questions.

 

Here is how I answered…

 

Like you I think about these questions.

 

Based on personal experience and expert opinions [which I have read], the answers appear to be yes, yes, and yes.

 

Yes - some of our personality is directed by our genes. For example, experts have apparently identified long and short forms of a gene that is correlated with optimism and pessimism. Optimism-pessimism is connected with ‘positive thinking’, so – Yes – the genetic predispositions we are born with can cause us to be ‘by nature’ more-positive, less-positive, or middle-of-the-road.

 

The good news is – Yes – regardless – we can learn and teach ourselves how to become more positive.

 

It seems to me genetics influences about 50% and we can choose the other 50%...by working on things we see as promoting ‘positive attitude & positive thinking’.

 

Here’s what I mean by 50% - 50%.

 

When we are born we are predisposed to be negative or middle-of-the-road or positive. I envision this like a Bell Curve where 25% of people are genetically negative, 50% are genetically middle-of-the-road, and 25% are genetically positive. The extent of negativity or positivity is not fixed. Picture it as falling within a range…i.e., each of us is born with a predetermined range where we either ‘tend’ to be negative , ‘tend’ to be neutral, or ‘tend’ to be positive. While, as research strongly suggests, a range like I have described is set by genetics…pessimistic people can work at being at the most-optimistic end of their range, neutral people can work at being more-optimistic, and optimistic people can work at making sure their optimism stays within the bounds of realism. [Too much optimism carries some unfortunate consequences.]

 

How do we make sure we are positive enough?

 

What can we learn from experiences?

 

Many things...

 

As examples:

• We can learn how to understand ourselves, particularly our moods
• We can learn how to avoid negative situations [because situations impact on mood]
• We can learn how to focus on using our strengths rather than correcting our weaknesses
• We can learn how to have a thick skin…i.e., so others do not offend us
• We can learn how to bolster our self-confidence