If you customarily leap out of bed in the morning with a cheerful 'Good morning, God', you're an optimist. If, instead, you wake up and complain, 'Good God, morning?', you're a pessimist.

However, the good news is that there are more optimists than pessimists. Science Daily, citing a new study from the University of Kansas and the Gallup polling organisation, reports that, despite calamities ranging from economic recessions, wars and famine to a flu epidemic afflicting the Earth, humans are by nature optimistic.

The report stated that the study was based on data from a Gallup World Poll of 150,000 adults in more than 140 countries providing a representative sample of 95 per cent of the world's population. The study found that 89 per cent of individuals worldwide expect the next five years to be as good as or better than their current life, and 95 per cent of individuals expected their life in five years to be as good or better than their life was five years ago.

The world's greatest optimists (according to the study) are to be found in Ireland, Brazil, Denmark and New Zealand. The United States, even with Barack Obama as president, ranks No. 10. The least optimistic are to be found in Zimbabwe, Egypt, Haiti and Bulgaria. Interestingly, factors like age and income appear to have only a negligible impact on a person's optimism.

If you're not sure how to tell the difference between an optimist and a pessimist, perhaps this story from an anonymous source will help.

eternal optimism

Frank always looked on the bright side. He would constantly irritate his friends with his eternal optimism. No matter how horrible the circumstance, he would always reply, "Well, it could have been worse." To cure him of his annoying habit, his friends decided to invent a situation so completely bad, so terrible, that even Frank could find no hope in it. On the golf course one day, one of them said, "Frank, did you hear about Tom? He came home last night, found his wife in bed with another man, shot them both and then turned the gun on himself!"

"That's awful," said Frank, "But it could have been worse." "How in hell," asked his bewildered friend, "could it have been worse?"

"Well," replied Frank, "if it had happened the night before, I'd be dead now!"

sympathetic preacher

Genuine optimism is not just a product of jokes but distinguishes many great achievers. The story of hymn-writer, Fanny Crosby, is particularly inspiring. Even though she was blinded by an illness at the age of six weeks, Fanny, who composed more than 6,000 gospel songs, was never bitter. A sympathetic preacher once remarked that it was a pity God had not given her sight when He had given her so many other gifts. "Do you know," she remarked, "that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?" "Why?" the clergyman asked. "Because," Crosby replied, "when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Saviour!"

I am a perennial and perpetual optimist. I wake up every morning wondering what the day would bring and, even though my experience tells me that bad news is inevitable, I still expect only good things to happen. I go to sleep at night and put the day behind me, focusing only on the good news and the lessons I learnt. I try to do what Lao Tzu, the great Chinese philosopher advised, "Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream."

I take my cue from the great artist, Pablo Picasso. When asked which of his many paintings was his favourite, he replied, "The next one."

Tony Deyal was last seen agreeing with Robert Brault that the world's greatest optimist was the person who invented the lead pencil. The pencil is seven inches long but the eraser is only half-an-inch.