Changing Your Thoughts vs Your Location - New Age Cliche vs Happier Abroad

[Jester]

Positive thinking is an unproven religion. It is not mainstream science. It's just a theory with no scientific back up. Some experiments show that negative thoughts influence health. Yeah, when you are sad, you feel lousy and the immune system may go down. But there are no Nobel prizes on that and no mainstream study.

It also does not explain why it is that so often evil comes when you are happy and relaxed and bang! Or when you worry and brood but nothing bad happens- everything turns out OK. This is MY experience in life.

Most of the things I got in life were from angry determinations and intense efforts plus patience. My mind is that of a warrior. Positive, negative, it does not matter- I just make efforts. Positively, negatively, who cares?

Thoughts have some power but not a lot. You can have negative thoughts but if you take positive action, then the thoughts matter little. Also, many of these philosophers are comfortable people who live in 1st world countries and who have obviously never known wars, famines and horrible governments. And they are the ones who have the time and money to publish all these books.

They cannot explain a tsunami in Japan or Chernobyl or war when a huge cruel army enters your city and kills, rapes and tortures people in it.

They also cannot explain sufferings of children hundreds of thousands of whom die in bad places without having any thoughts yet.

So, people who have had the fortune to be living under rich democratic governments with little or no crime, good medical care, plenty of food and no war going on, will only need good thoughts and then possibly good actions to reach out and change something for an even better thing.

There are causes which are much deeper than thoughts for the rest of the world.

I lived in Kuwait and met many sullen, arrogant Kuwaitis who were pretty hateful people. Nice cars, great jobs, many wives. Next door you have Iraq with all the war and bombings.

Do women get raped because they are thinking they will? How about it happens most unexpectedly?

Positive thought gurus get only a very partial picture.

A positive thought is different from a determined thought which leads to a strong action in the direction in which you want to go.

ps. I wrote a book recently and was very rah rah about it and very positive it was going to make me cash. It was a great idea and so were many others I had. The response was very negative and not one copy sold. I was also involved in a very interesting art project which I was sure would succeed. I was totally positive it would. It was a disaster. So were many other great business ideas I had.

otoh, I was very negative and fearful about working in Saudi Arabia and was constantly afraid that I was going to be attacked by terrorists or that other bad things would happen to me. Nothing bad happened. The whole experience is now nothing but great memories and plenty of money.

I was going to Iraq though and was not thinking any negative thoughts. But suddenly I did not pass my medical and was turned down. Did I expect this to happen? Nope. Did I have negative thoughts? No.

Realities of business markets, job markets, love markets as well as laws and rules out there in societies exist independently from positive or negative thoughts. So do disasters, and good things.

I remember I got fired from my job when I was feeling totally positive and happy and thought my contract would be extended. Another person became my manager and she cleaned out the shop.

Brilliant stuff.

Please post anything else you have to say in this vein.

Or write a book?

[polya]

I've found changing your location can be ruined by taking your old thoughts/baggage with you. However, I've always been happy when I've travelled as I enjoy exploring new cities - no matter what baggage I have, so I do think changing your location works.

[Winston]

Here is Dr. Wayne Dyer, a popular New Age guru and best selling author, talking for 90 minutes about how changing your thoughts will change your life. What do you think? Does any of it make sense? Which parts are true and which parts aren't?

[Jester]

For others, there's also the "right place" vs "wrong place". Given a certain country, city, and culture, it can be assumed that if there is a mainstream culture, then there must be a counter-culture of people who are unhappy with the so called mainstream. I've known people who lived in the US and hated it, but when they moved to Japan it was like fish in water to them, simply because the Japanese culture clicks much better with them.

What were these people like?

[Jester]

If all that's necessary is changing your thoughts, then there's no reason to do anything at all, even getting out of bed in the morning.

+1

YES you nailed it. Everyone tells you to work on your inner self, but if you work on the SUPERFICIAL stuff - being with hot women, wearing sharp clothes, driving a great car, living in a great place, doing exciting things - life in the outer world - THAT is what confers status to 99.9% of people, and besides that, the discipline and courage to do things like approach women and approach customers can be a great spiritual exercise in focus, immersion, fearlessness, being detached from outcomes, etc.

[xiongmao]

People do notice the superficial stuff. In London rich dudes are forever driving round in $250,000+ cars.

And when I took Ms Barbie shopping in Bangkok, people REALLY noticed me. The attention then was crazy.

[Winston]

Here are some quotes from Dr. Wayne Dyer, a popular New Age guru that teaches the "Change your thoughts" solution to life's problems. According to him, location doesn't matter, only thoughts do. Your thoughts are the key to changing your reality. lol

Even on the cover of one of his books, as you can see below, he says this. Yeah right. Positive thoughts are not going to fix your problems or change your life. If it was that easy, then there would be no problems. Duh.

How can anyone buy this shit? And why does PBS praise him so much? Can't they see that he's full of it? Isn't PBS supposed to be about genuine quality programming?

I guess Happier Abroad is not necessary then, since according to the famous Dr. Wayne Dyer, all your problems in America will be fixed if you "change your thoughts". lol





Dr. Wayne Dyer's CD cover:



His book cover:

[Jester]

When I lived in Southern California, I used to see Dyer doing a special broadcast when the PBS station was doing its fundraising. He was a good sport, though he was also selling books and tapes.

I wondered, though, why, in his public talks I saw footage of, why his audience were always all women? What is it about him that magnetically attracts women?

I used to see this in the so-called "Agape" non-church in Santa Monica when I visited. Oodles of White women, all fans of Pastor Michael. Why?

Michael was tall, slender, Black, dreadlocks, smooth. Dyer is bald, White smirky. So ts not the "outer" that these women are flocking to. What is it!

Not that I want the somewhat-used California chicks. Just curious about the phenomenon.

Reminds me eerily of the old Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Mankind".

[gsjackson]

When I lived in Southern California, I used to see Dyer doing a special broadcast when the PBS station was doing its fundraising. He was a good sport, though he was also selling books and tapes.

I wondered, though, why, in his public talks I saw footage of, why his audience were always all women? What is it about him that magnetically attracts women?

I used to see this in the so-called "Agape" non-church in Santa Monica when I visited. Oodles of White women, all fans of Pastor Michael. Why?

Michael was tall, slender, Black, dreadlocks, smooth. Dyer is bald, White smirky. So ts not the "outer" that these women are flocking to. What is it!

Not that I want the somewhat-used California chicks. Just curious about the phenomenon.

Reminds me eerily of the old Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Mankind".

Women have been by far in the majority of the positive thinkers constituency going back to its beginnings in the 19th century, when it was called New Thought Metaphysics or New Thought. The academic treatment of the subject is a 1965 book titled The Positive Thinkers: ....by, I believe, Donald Meyer.

As to why mostly women -- I dunno. Early on I suppose the men were all out moving earth around, or otherwise employed in some fashion that left little time for cultivating the mind in some direction. Nowadays, in the "freelance" economy, you have far more men unemployed or underemployed, so maybe more of them will be devoting themselves to "mind science."

Women, by the way, have often been the gurus in this uniquely American movement (though lots of Brits have been buying in recently), going back to Mary Baker Eddy and the founding of Christian Science.

[matthewcoury]

i'll give you a practical reason to change your location instead of your thoughts......with all the thousands of dollars you spent on trying to get laid at clubs buying drinks, going to pickup seminars, money you spent at bars....you couldve been in amsterdam for months and gotten laid by some hot cheap hookers..... obviously thats not really what i want, i want a relationship, but im just using that as a practical example....if you went to amsterdam you wouldnt even need to buy hookers....these positive thought people also arent taking into account the negative evergy of the environment and others around you......its like saying a drop of oil is going to change an entire ocean into oil......its not going to happen.....the ocean will overpower the oil

[KokujinKrusader]

Changing your mind is important. If you do not change your mindset at all (assuming that you are the constantly brooding type), then you probably will not end up being too successful at your next destination.

[Winston]

Article that explains why location is the biggest factor in happiness.

http://www.mavericktraveler.com/new-env ... ifference/

[america sucks]

While changing location is important, changing your thoughts is as well. It's important not to always be negative and ungrateful.. that makes you have a nasty, spiteful personality just like the majority of american women have. You don't want to have a victim mentality like the way they do. Focusing on the good things in life can help you deal with alot of the bad things that happen in life. For instance, instead of dwelling about how I don't fit in mainstream US culture and American women don't find me desirable, I was able to think differently and come up with noncomformist solutions, such as going after foreign women and trying to move abroad. This probably saved me from a lot of trouble as American women have STDs, often cheat on their partners (and think it's their RIGHT to), have endless demands and are just a waste of time to interact with

[QatarDan]

Whats the difference between you Winston and Hugh Hefner?

Its the thoughts he had. Thoughts do actually create everything. Negative things will still happen but the way you react i.e. think about negative events will effect the next outcome.

Its pretty simple, its not even a theory - it is all true. Its just not easily done!

Some of the guys in here could move to an island of 5000 women where they were the last man on earth sent to save the human race and they'd still be unhappy and moaning. Have a think about it. Your current thinking is going to see you nowhere - good luck

[Feldeinsamkeit]

Whats the difference between you Winston and Hugh Hefner?

Its the thoughts he had. Thoughts do actually create everything. Negative things will still happen but the way you react i.e. think about negative events will effect the next outcome.

Its pretty simple, its not even a theory - it is all true. Its just not easily done!

Some of the guys in here could move to an island of 5000 women where they were the last man on earth sent to save the human race and they'd still be unhappy and moaning. Have a think about it. Your current thinking is going to see you nowhere - good luck

But if you're not "her type" it isn't going to make the slightest difference in the world. By way of an example, I'm much more comfortable around women than I was as a young man,I have plenty of female friends where I live, yet I find that the dating market has become an impossible nut to track these days, despite being in better shape/better dressed with more confidence to boot. To simply blame the victims of this dire dating market is not only wrong-headed, but sociopathic, too, if I may say so.