Is Positive Thinking Powerful?
Pretty Much.
Is positive thinking really that powerful? I hate to sound cynical or negative, but thinking positive thoughts, on the whole, have brought me more disappointment than good results. I don’t consider myself a negative person, because I don’t think that the worst will always happen either. I mostly just like to look at the situation realistically. Have other people I’ve known tried this? What do the odds say? This is my approach. But for some people, thinking positive really does create good results. Or so they say…I have a hard time seeing that too.
I am married to the most optimistic man in the world, I think. I almost want to say he’s hopelessly so, but he has enough accomplishments under his belt to prove otherwise, I suppose. It’s always tough for me to take his approach at face value though. He often says things to me like “words have power, babe” or “thoughts have power, babe” (haha, I didn’t say he was extremely prolific, I said he was positive) and he really means it when he says it. Recently we were on a road trip, and I got antsy in the passenger seat. It was late at night, and we were driving tired, and I started to freak out. He was adamant about me keeping my nervousness and ill thoughts to myself. That’s interesting though, because to me, regardless of how negative or positive my concerns are, talking them out usually helps me.
Interestingly, logic isn’t my strong suit. I am very emotional. It honestly surprises me that I don’t believe more in positive thoughts and their ability to change the outcome of situations. I’d even say that for a person in a crisis of faith, I blindly believe in a lot of things, religiously, that others have counted out. But I can’t seem to see how “thinking positively” helps anyone. Perhaps it’s because of my susceptibility to disappointment. I don’t take being wrong or poor results very well. I often beat myself up about things that don’t go how I envision them, and replay situations in my head over and over assessing and reassessing how I could have spun things in my favor.
Maybe that’s why I can’t totally buy into the power of positive thinking. Maybe I need to have a degree of control over my disappointment, so that I don’t freak out when things DO go wrong. How do you feel about positive thoughts? Do you think that if you think and believe it will be, it happens for you? Are your positive thoughts connected to your spirituality? Do you believe that when you think positively, your God has a way of shaping the outcome?
Tags: cynical, happy thoughts, optimism, positive thinking, powerful, realistic
You sound a lot like me many years ago, the older I get I see value in positive thinking only in that it keeps me from getting anxious. It doesn’t necessarily change outcomes (like some think aka Law of Attraction) but I can choose to face a bad situation with a good/positive mindset and probably stay in better spirits rather then being a complete mess.
I like this post. I believe in positive thinking although I have a hard time putting it into practice. For me, the best thing is to just remain neutral about things until I see the outcome. There are too many times that I’ve gotten excited about something only for it to be a disappointment so instead of just outright negative thinking, I like to imagine the scenarios that could play out, some are good, some are bad but I won’t put too much stock into either, just let the situation pan out and then decide how it went later. If you ask my hubs though, he’d say I’m pretty negative soooo…. I think given the circumstances of my life, I’m a pretty upbeat person. My grandmother does believe in speaking things into existence, both good and bad, so sometimes I’ll take that route if it’s a job interview or something but for the most part neutrality benefits me.
I fall into the same boat as you: emotional… logic always comes second… and I often rely on positive thinking (and people around me rely on my own “positive attitude”) to stay motivated. In reading your blog I realize that the point of positive thinking isn’t to change the ultimate outcome of a situation but to be able to accept and live with any outcome. If you think positively about moving forward always, you will have a stronger chance to stay happy, focused and feel fulfilled.
I grew up hearing “life and death is in the power of the tongue” from my parents and church. Even now, my parents get annoyed when I say “I’m broke” or “life sucks”. They remind me that by saying that I will actually be broke with a sucky life lol. Over the years I’ve gotten better at it. I still complain but I usually finish with a God will work it all out kinda vibe. And it does, pretty much always work out. So yes, I believe in positive thoughts and their results.
In the awesome pattern of things you get an A+ with regard to effort and hard work. Where you actually confused me personally ended up being in your specifics. As they say, details make or break the argument.. And it couldn’t be much more correct right here. Having said that, permit me say to you just what did give good results. Your authoring is actually really convincing and this is most likely why I am making the effort in order to opine. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. 2nd, whilst I can easily see a leaps in reason you come up with, I am not certain of exactly how you seem to connect the details which in turn produce your final result. For now I shall yield to your issue however trust in the foreseeable future you actually connect the facts much better.