Limits of positive thinking

Positive thinking is something very American. Perhaps it was the harshness of the fronteer which forced people to be positive in the face of adversities. Perhaps it is our forefather’s penchant for unorthodox religions which did it.

Either way, the USA has been the source of many “New Thought” movements where the basic idea is that what we think affects the world around us. This is a very good idea as our thoughts affect our bodies and our attitudes. So our thoughts affect our health and our outcomes in many different fields.

Unfortunately from the real ideas that our thoughts affect our external existence we get the wrong idea that:

• Every aspect of our external life has been brought about by our thoughts – we have manifested the universe we live in….
• Therefore, if we are sick, poor, or otherwise our lives is not the way we desire, it is our own fault – we created it – this is what I have called “New Age Guilt.”

In reality positive thinking works, but only so far. Statistically, when faced with terminal illness,  cockeyed optimists, “who are in denial”, lived longer than those realists who accept the doctor’s pronouncements. But it is a statistical research.

Faced with an incurable disease, some people die rapidly even though they use every trick in the positive thinking books. Others who may be total pessimists long outlast, those who are happy, laugh, and refuse to face the reality of approaching death.

In the same way more positive sales persons earn higher commission than those who do not believe in themselves. In fact the grand daddy of the positive thinking books, The Power of Positive Thinking was written by an ex-sales person for an insurance company when he was the owner of an insurance company.

Now, whereas positive thinking and having a great attitude will bring some success in many fields it is not the end all and be all of successful people as is not high intelligence or any single factor which contributes to our overall success.

So be optimistic, practice positive thinking. They will help. No matter what taking action is the most important aspect of success. Also important are other factors like intelligence, motivation, aptitude for the task, our support system (mainly network of friends and acquaintances), and other factors.

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