Optimistic English: Make yourself & others happier, healthier, and richer!

120

Hi, I'm Rebecca from www.engvid.com , and this lesson is about optimistic English.

It's about what you can say and how you can think in order to make yourself and others

around you more positive rather than negative.

So, in this lesson, we're going to cover seven proverbs and expressions that people use in

English to encourage each other, okay?

Now, what's a proverb?

A proverb is a sort of a short, wise saying that people have been using for a long time

to communicate some kind of simple advice or wisdom, alright?

So, let's see how optimistic a person you are with a little question.

This is something that we do use in English.

So, you can see here that I have tried to draw a glass with some water.

So, how do you see this glass?

Do you see this glass as half full, or as half empty?

What do you think?

So, if you said that the glass is half full, then usually that suggests that someone is

a little bit more optimistic, and if someone says that the glass is half empty, then that

tends to look at the glass, which is just a symbol of life, as the things that are missing,

rather than all the things that you have.

So, a more optimistic person would tend to see this glass as half full.

So, sometimes people ask like, you know, look at, or they say, look at the half full glass.

I know you are going through a difficult time, but look at the half full glass, not half

What does that mean?

It means look at all the good things, look at all the positive things, alright?

So, let's look at some more.

Here's the first one: When one door closes, another door opens.

So, that's something that we say to encourage other people, it's pretty straight forward,

it's - I think you can understand it.

When one door closes, another door opens.

So, what is that trying to say?

That when one opportunity or perhaps a job or a relationship or some situation ends,

another job or relationship or opportunity will be available and be open, okay, to come

into your life.

So, we say this to someone when they have some - when something difficult has happened,

and we want to encourage them.

So, let's suppose that your friend John has lost his job, okay?

So - and he's feeling a bit unhappy about it, so you could say "Hey John, it's okay,

when one door closes, another door opens.", which means you will get a better job soon,

Maybe even - another job, maybe even a better job, okay?

The second one: Where there's a will, there's a way.

Say it after me: Where there's a will, there's a way.

So here, what do we mean by "will", okay?

Usually you know "will" from the future tense, right?

But here, it doesn't mean that.

So, here, "will" is like "desire", okay, or "determination", okay?

Where they is a will, where there is a strong desire to achieve something, to do something,

there is a way.

So, if you have a strong desire to achieve a goal, you will find a way.

That's what this is saying.

So, again, there's John, he's lost his job.

You told him this first, you met him a little bit later and he's still looking for a job

and you tell him "Don't give up, you know, keep going, where's there's a will, there's

As long as you stay determined and focused and positive, you will find a way to get another

But again, this doesn't have to be only about jobs, it's just the example I'm giving you.

Next, number three: There's light at the end of the tunnel.

Say it after me: There's light at the end of the tunnel.

Now, first of all, what's a tunnel?

A tunnel is a kind of an underground passageway, so let's suppose a train has to go through

a mountain, they will build a tunnel so that the train can go through, right?

And the tunnel is usually, yeah, it's a way to get through, but it's usually kind of a

So, when we say there is light at the end of the tunnel, it means that even though you've

been through a difficult time or a dark time, there is light at the end of that, and that

light represents hope and good things, positive things.

So, there's light at the end of the tunnel.

So, let's say that that John is still looking for a job and he thinks that somebody - he

comes across a job opportunity and he thinks he has a really good chance and he says "You

know what, I've been trying to find a job, but I think this one might be it."

And you say "Yeah, I see there's light at the end of the tunnel.

This might be the one, you have a really good chance to get this one.

There's hope, okay, don't give up."

Alright, next, number four: Better late than never.

Better late than never.

So again, this expression, and actually all of these, perhaps they exist in your language,

I don't know, and it would be fun to see if you could write at the bottom of the lesson

some comments, leave some comments about optimistic expressions in your language.

That'd be great, we could learn from each other.

So, you might have this expression in your language: Better late than never.

So, what does that mean?

Even if something happens a little bit later than you expect, it's better that it happens

at all than if it doesn't happen ever.

So, let's say John finally gets a job, but now John, who is not as optimistic as you

are, always, he says "Yeah, I got a job but you know, it took so long and I'm, you know,

I should have got it earlier."

And you're like "Hey John, it's okay, better late than never, okay?

Because the other possibility was that maybe you wouldn't have gotten a job at all."

But now he got it, so better late than never.

Sometimes, we also use this in some other kind of contexts, when somebody arrives, but

they came really late and they feel like they missed something and you say "No, no, it's

okay, better late than never."

It's better that something happened than it didn't happen at all, okay?

So that's that one.

Here's number five: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Do you have an idea what that might mean?

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

So, a lemon is symbolic for something which is sour, okay, it doesn't taste too good.

But, if you - so, if life gives you a situation which is a little bit sour, which is a little

bit uncomfortable, which you don't like, okay, which is not positive and not easy, make lemonade.

Lemonade is something not sour, it's something sweet, it's something fun and you can drink

It's something that you drink, it's a sweet drink that you make with lemons.

So when life gives you lemons, something sour or difficult, make lemonade, make it sweet,

make it positive, okay, turn the situation around.

So, that's what this proverb means, okay?

And then this one, not so much a proverb, it's more of an expression that people use.

It says: Keep your chin up.

Keep your chin up.

What's your chin?

This, this is my chin, okay?

Keep your chin up.

Why do we say that?

Because have you noticed that people who are a little bit depressed or a little bit unhappy,

they tend to look down a lot, but people who are happy and positive and confident, they

tend to look up.

Their head is up, their chin is up.

So, when someone feels sad, even a child will usually stand like that, when he's happy,

he or she will stand like this.

So, when you tell somebody "Keep your chin up" means don't give up, stay strong, stay

hopeful, stay proud, okay?

Keep your chin up, stay positive, stay optimistic, okay?

So now, there are two ways to deal with proverbs.

One is, first of all, to understand them, right?

If somebody says it, then at least you understand what they said to you.

And the second stage is when you actually learn it and you could say it to someone else.

So, that's a higher level of English, where you're producing the language, right?

So now, let's do a little quiz to see if you've learned some of these expressions to see if

you can fill in the blanks.

I'm going to take away some of the words and you're going to help me to finish the entire

expression, okay?

Okay, so let's do the first one.

Do you remember the entire expression?

When one door closes, another door _____.

Say it after me or read it along with me: When one door closes, another door opens.

The next one: Where there's a ______, there's a way.

Do you remember what that word was, where there's a _______ or a _______.

Where there's a will.

Where there's a will, where there's a desire, there's a way.

Now, by the way, these optimistic expressions have been proven in some recent research done

by a psychologist named Dr. Suzanne Segerstrom who works at one of the universities in the

states, and she actually found that if you are a person who looks at the glass as half

full rather than half empty, optimistic people like that tend to be happier, they tend to

be healthier, they tend to be wealthier, what does wealthier mean?

Wealthy means rich, so that's always nice, and - so is being happy and so is being healthy,

so this is what was found and so, it's something you might want to keep in mind because apparently,

when people are optimistic, they take actions based on that, expecting positive results,

and that sets some kind of a confident cycle in going, okay?

So, keep that in mind.

Let's get back now.

Number three: There's _________ at the end of the tunnel.

What's at the end of the tunnel?

A word that we said represents hope and new opportunities and so on?

There's light, okay?

There's light at the end of the tunnel.

Good, you've got these!

Alright, number four: Better ______ than never.

Better late, good.

Better late than never.

And say them aloud, okay?

Say them aloud, you can pause the video, say them because if you say them with me, there's

more chance you're going to actually use them with someone else, okay?

And that's what we want you to be able to do.

Number five: When life gives you _______, make lemonade.

When life gives you lemons, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

And the last like: Keep your _____ up.

This - keep your chin, okay?

Keep your chin up.

And you, too, keep your chin up, okay?

Thanks for watching all these optimistic expressions.

I hope you're feeling more optimistic and positive and determined and that you have

a will now and you'll find a way to keep improving your English, okay?

Because that's all I want you to be able to do and I also know that you can do it because

you're watching.

So, if you want to make sure that you know these, go to our website at www.engvid.com

. There, you can do a quiz on these, just make sure that you really know them well,

And also, as I suggested, it would be fun if you leave some comments where you translate,

kind of, into English, because otherwise I can't understand them, so translate into English

some expressions similar to these, or different from these, that represent an optimistic attitude,

Or optimistic advice, that would be fun, alright?

So, thanks very much for watching, don't forget to subscribe, and I'll see you next time.