Huffington Magazine Issue 90 | Page 69

GETTY IMAGES/JOHNER RF Exit ing hopeless and giving up in the face of obstacles, they take the opportunity to put on their thinking caps and come up with a creative solution to the problem at hand. Mentally strong people tend to be realistic optimists — they have the hopefulness of optimists and the clarity of pessimists — which gives them both the motivation and the critical thinking required to come up with creative solutions. “Every time [realistic optimists] face an issue or a challenge or a problem, they won’t THE THIRD METRIC HUFFINGTON 03.02.14 Things that we think are obstacles are actually opportunities to do something.” say ‘I have no choice and this is the only thing I can do,’” researcher Sophia Chou told LiveScience. “They will be creative, they will have a plan A, plan B and plan C.” THEY LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT. Being present — rather than dwelling on the past or anticipating the future — allows you to see things as they really are. Whether or not they have a for-