How Optimists Literally Sync When Thinking About Tomorrow — And How LENS Can Help Your Brain Join In
We’ve all heard the phrase “being on the same wavelength,” but what if that was more than just a figure of speech? Imagine two friends chatting about next summer’s plans. One pictures sunny beaches, laughter, and shared adventures—and the other, without realizing it, is picturing almost the exact same thing. Now imagine scientists putting both into a brain scanner and discovering that their neurons were firing in remarkably similar patterns, almost like they were following the same mental blueprint.
That’s exactly what a new Kobe University study revealed: optimists don’t just share a hopeful outlook; they share a neural rhythm when imagining the future. This kind of brain synchrony may help explain why optimists tend to click with one another, bounce back from challenges, and maintain steadier emotional footing in daily life.
Inside the Brain of an Optimist
In the study, 87 participants—ranging from deeply pessimistic to relentlessly optimistic—were asked to imagine future scenarios while lying in an fMRI scanner. The results were striking.
Optimists consistently showed highly similar patterns of brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), an area linked to self-reflection, social understanding, and forward thinking. It was as though they were tuned to the same station on “the brain’s radio dial”.
Pessimists, on the other hand, displayed far more individual, unpredictable brain patterns, each imagining the future in their own unique way. And when optimists pictured negative events, they processed them with more emotional distance, almost like keeping a bad memory in the far background. That distancing may be part of what makes optimism a natural emotional buffer.
The Tolstoy Twist
The researchers summed it up with a nod to Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina:
“Optimistic individuals are all alike, but each less optimistic individual imagines the future in their own way.”
It’s a poetic reflection of what the scans revealed: optimism is a unifying force in the brain, while pessimism is deeply personal and varied.
Where LENS Neurofeedback Fits In
For many people, optimism doesn’t come naturally, especially after years of chronic stress, anxiety, trauma, or depression. But brain patterns aren’t fixed. That’s where LENS neurofeedback can help.
LENS works by gently interrupting the brain’s habitual, stuck patterns and nudging it toward more flexible, balanced functioning. Over time, this shift can reduce the brain’s tendency to overreact to imagined threats and allow more space for the kind of future-focused, connected thinking seen in optimists.
In my own practice, I often see clients who start out with a “pessimist’s map” of the future—fragmented, uncertain, and tuned toward potential problems. As their sessions progress and the nervous system calms, their mental landscape begins to shift. They imagine possibilities with more clarity, they process negative scenarios with less emotional sting, and they often feel more in sync with the people around them.
The Bigger Picture
The Kobe University study offers a fascinating glimpse into the social and emotional benefits of optimism at a neurological level. But it also carries a hopeful message: the ability to process the future in a healthier, more connected way is not limited to people born with a sunny disposition.
With approaches like LENS therapy, the brain can learn new patterns that help you step into tomorrow with a calmer mind, a more balanced perspective, and maybe even on the same wavelength as the most optimistic people you know.
-A Balanced Brain is a Better Brain for a Happier Life-