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What l wonder though is does it really make any difference in goals.
Say career, love , that house or the life you want.?
Ya hear a lot about positive thinking in that sense but l wonder if it really can make something happen , or does it just help keep you in a good place mentally while your working on the rest ?
Yes but not by itself. Your frame of mind changes your demeanor,your interactions, the perceptions of others, which in turn changes the dynamics around you and can attract different people and opportunities. I always remember a well known person saying he didn’t get to where he was by luck,he got there by being in the right place at the right time. Just thinking by being positive it should just happen is not going to cut it.
On the other hand I am not a fan of the tyranny of positivity,life is yin and yang, So finding a balance is the key.
Realistic optimism is vital to a healthy mindset. If you have a positive attitude in that regard, you are then more motivated to make changes. However, illogical optimism is just as pernicious as negativity, imo.
I think it's better to take an AA-type perspective - try to change the things you can and accept the stuff you can't affect.
I have a generally positive mindset, and I work hard at maintaining that given my depression and anxiety issues. But most days, I get out of bed and start thinking about what a realistic to-do list looks like. I take time to savor the good things I've made sure my life includes - scritch the dogs' ears, snuggle the kitty, make my tea, and then start working - greet my coworkers online and chat with them a bit. I have a lot of stressors in my life, but by thinking about how I can improve my situation keeps me moving forward.
What l wonder though is does it really make any difference in goals.
Say career, love , that house or the life you want.?
Ya hear a lot about positive thinking in that sense but l wonder if it really can make something happen , or does it just help keep you in a good place mentally while your working on the rest ?
If you spend your time thinking "Yes, I can do it" vs. "No, I can't do it", which mindset do you think will take you the furthest in reaching your goals?
Realistic optimism is vital to a healthy mindset. If you have a positive attitude in that regard, you are then more motivated to make changes. However, illogical optimism is just as pernicious as negativity, imo.
This. Some people seem enslaved by a tyrannical approach to positive thinking. That IMHO can be just as bad (and hard for others to be around) as someone who drags miserably through every day hopeless, victimized, almost begging to be shot. I was diagnosed with cancer at age 36. Of course that's a huge unexpected shock to the system when you are supposedly powerful, springing around in health, and full of promise. When friends and co-workers started finding out about it, in their awkward efforts to help, they started these little mini-lectures about the medical benefits of positive thinking. For a while you buy into it, but every time some day-to-day negative thing crops up in your mind you end up punishing yourself for letting anything gloomy seep through any crack in the dam. That every single negative thought cut a day off your life like a red ink entry in a budget book. Last time I checked, guilt trips and bludgeoning yourself were not very healthy or helpful.
Eventually a person can learn to balance the two. Like so many other things, its really a continuum rather than an absolute. An occasional self-indulgent wallow in negative-land isn't going to shorten your life. You learn when positive thinking probably helps you put events into perspective and when it won't change the outcome. You learn to survive both.
Last edited by Parnassia; 03-06-2018 at 01:30 PM..
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hawk101
Eh people.
Yaknow, atm l feel like l have to be careful mentally that l don't get too negative right now.
Do you think or has it been proven maybe , a positive frame of mind, positive thinking, keeping negativity out, really changes anything ?
Does it really matter if we just be miserable until things start to turn ?
Or, if we wanna get right down into the nitty gritty, down into the guts of life, the mind, how things work and happen, do you think the will, the frame of mind, can make things happen or bring on what we desire ?
Do I think positive thinking changes things? HELL no, that’s why I don’t practice it. turns out the same no matter how I feel about it.
Yeah, I think while in a negative frame of mind people subconsciously make bad choices to "support" their belief (that life is bad). It really isn't woo or anything, it really is us doing it.
And while in a positive frame of mind we grab for the good that floats in and out as we go through our day.
Dale Carnegie wrote his book about starting smiling first and finding what to smile about later.
There was a suggestion that if our emotions make our muscles smile, then it should work in a reverse order, too
You can try and see for yourself. For me, it worked.
The Bible is the only positive-thinking that works and lasts a lifetime. Having peace with the idea that no matter how bad things are--that if life ended today--you did your best to love all creatures great and small, and be kind: this is the only positive-thinking that is not self-centered and that works.
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turns out the same no matter how I feel about it.
