The Power of Positive Thinking

[SilverEnergy]

Book:

The Power of Positive Thinking has helped millions of men and women to achieve fulfillment in their lives. In this phenomenal bestseller, Dr. Peale demonstrates the power of faith in action. With the practical techniques outlined in this book, you can energize your life -- and give yourself the initiative needed to carry out your ambitions and hopes. You'll learn how to:
• believe in yourself and in everything you do
• build new power and determination
• develop the power to reach your goals
• break the worry habit and achieve a relaxed life
• improve your personal and professional relationships
• assume control over your circumstances
• be kind to yourself

[Winston]

Sounds too broad, vague and New Ageish. You can't just fix all your problems by "being positive" or "being confident", etc. That's New Age hype with no substance or logic. Positive thinking or confidence doesn't fix anything.

For example, if you asked me to fix your car, and I was confident about it, it wouldn't help at all, because I can't fix cars. But if you asked me to fix your computer, I'm sure I could help because I know a lot about fixing computers. But confidence or positive thinking would not help at all.

These authors are trying to help people who feel that they are not in control of their lives, by giving them something that they think they can control. It's all an illusion.

Nothing wrong with positive thinking. But it doesn't fix anything. Whether you succeed at something or not depends on many factors. It's not about being confident or positive. Positivity and confidence in and of itself won't fix anything.

As mentioned in another thread called "The Myth of Confidence", confidence is a BY PRODUCT of success. It doesn't cause success or failure. It's all bullshit New Age hype popular with hippies on the West Coast.

viewtopic.php?t=9050

[Billy]

Positive thinking was debunked long time ago. Many people had bad experiences with that as expectations weren´t met. Think of "The Secret" which was one of the biggest frauds in the self help market.

More scientifically serious is Positive Pyschology founded by Seligman. But he even steps back and acknowledges that even he was wrong because he thought he could bring happiness to the people which didn´t work out. He mentions this in his book "flourish" where expectations are kept more humble and lower.

[Hero]

I can't tell you how angry I get people tell me "Oh Hero, if only you had a positive attitude, everything would be all right." Yeah right, just sit on your butt all day and pretend that everything is perfect, and everything will be perfect. By that logic, you should never do anything at all.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

This is part of that Perpetual Optimism that is as American as apple pie. There is a place for positive thinking and a place for negative thinking (which Americans tend to ignore). Negative thinking can save you from ruin or from harm. If we all thought positively all the time, we would be ignoring that warning mechanism that is designed to protect us from bad people or bad situations.

What we all should be striving for is BALANCE in our thinking.

[publicduende]

Positive thinking has to be coupled with some realistic life goals, and some real effort to reach them. Only then it makes good sense. This is why I despise New Age-ish life philosophies which seem to be charitable in their aims, but they're just wrong when they still target non-spiritual, materialistic and often unreachable goals.

A typical example is Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" and all the fuzz and merchandise it generated. The idea of summoning some obscure mystical force that permeates the Universe is nothing but a glamorous New Age take to the notion of praying. Yet all religions and spiritual philosophies have warned us that praying is only effective when done with a pure heart and for a noble, spiritual purpose. You don't pray God or the Universe that they deliver a shiny new Ferrari or a hot partner right at our doorsteps. That's just another name for an undue sense of entitlement, typical of our "right here, right now" societies.

[HouseMD]

If you believe you can do something, it is a possibility. If you believe something is impossible, you can create self fulfilling prophecies of failure. Positive thinking broadens your possibilities, and can help you insofar as you are not writing things off that are within your capability. Negative thinking can be a hindrance that prevents you from striving to complete your most difficult personal goals.

Either in excess is dangerous, however. Realism should be what we strive for- an honest and reasoned approach to examining our own capabilities rather than just an empty outlook that is either positive or negative in nature.

[publicduende]

If you believe you can do something, it is a possibility. If you believe something is impossible, you can create self fulfilling prophecies of failure. Positive thinking broadens your possibilities, and can help you insofar as you are not writing things off that are within your capability. Negative thinking can be a hindrance that prevents you from striving to complete your most difficult personal goals.

Either in excess is dangerous, however. Realism should be what we strive for- an honest and reasoned approach to examining our own capabilities rather than just an empty outlook that is either positive or negative in nature.

I agree, but it's also a game of keeping expectations realistic and working hard to reach (or even exceed) them. Some people like to think they get the Moon by standing still. Wishful thinking won't change the laws of physics. The wiser ones will move the target down to Earth and work on earning that flight ticket.

[SilverEnergy]

Sounds too broad, vague and New Ageish. You can't just fix all your problems by "being positive" or "being confident", etc. That's New Age hype with no substance or logic. Positive thinking or confidence doesn't fix anything.

For example, if you asked me to fix your car, and I was confident about it, it wouldn't help at all, because I can't fix cars. But if you asked me to fix your computer, I'm sure I could help because I know a lot about fixing computers. But confidence or positive thinking would not help at all.

These authors are trying to help people who feel that they are not in control of their lives, by giving them something that they think they can control. It's all an illusion.

Nothing wrong with positive thinking. But it doesn't fix anything. Whether you succeed at something or not depends on many factors. It's not about being confident or positive. Positivity and confidence in and of itself won't fix anything.

As mentioned in another thread called "The Myth of Confidence", confidence is a BY PRODUCT of success. It doesn't cause success or failure. It's all bullshit New Age hype popular with hippies on the West Coast.

viewtopic.php?t=9050

Nothing that you mentioned in your post is even what the book is really about.

It's clear you have never read the book.

[SilverEnergy]

Positive thinking was debunked long time ago. Many people had bad experiences with that as expectations weren´t met. Think of "The Secret" which was one of the biggest frauds in the self help market.

More scientifically serious is Positive Pyschology founded by Seligman. But he even steps back and acknowledges that even he was wrong because he thought he could bring happiness to the people which didn´t work out. He mentions this in his book "flourish" where expectations are kept more humble and lower.

No it wasn't.

It's clear by the responses in this thread the kind of mindset that prevails on HA.

[SilverEnergy]

Positive thinking has to be coupled with some realistic life goals, and some real effort to reach them. Only then it makes good sense. This is why I despise New Age-ish life philosophies which seem to be charitable in their aims, but they're just wrong when they still target non-spiritual, materialistic and often unreachable goals.

A typical example is Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" and all the fuzz and merchandise it generated. The idea of summoning some obscure mystical force that permeates the Universe is nothing but a glamorous New Age take to the notion of praying. Yet all religions and spiritual philosophies have warned us that praying is only effective when done with a pure heart and for a noble, spiritual purpose. You don't pray God or the Universe that they deliver a shiny new Ferrari or a hot partner right at our doorsteps. That's just another name for an undue sense of entitlement, typical of our "right here, right now" societies.

Let me get off subject.

I don't think that "The Secret" said anything about praying to God to get a Ferrari.

"The Secret" talks about the fact that energy comes from your thoughts and how it interacts with the cosmic energy in the Universe to manifest things into your life it's been scientifically proven that your thoughts affects the matter around you.

There's an infinite amount of energy that fills the entire universe as PROVEN by scientists.

And what would be wrong about praying to God for a red Ferrari???

But to get back on topic, the book mentioned in this thread is about something entirely different than what was mentioned in "The Secret".

[SilverEnergy]

If you believe you can do something, it is a possibility. If you believe something is impossible, you can create self fulfilling prophecies of failure. Positive thinking broadens your possibilities, and can help you insofar as you are not writing things off that are within your capability. Negative thinking can be a hindrance that prevents you from striving to complete your most difficult personal goals.

Either in excess is dangerous, however. Realism should be what we strive for- an honest and reasoned approach to examining our own capabilities rather than just an empty outlook that is either positive or negative in nature.

See this post guys.

This post is written by someone who is doing something in his life, whose thoughts and mindset got him where he is today.

[SilverEnergy]

I can't tell you how angry I get people tell me "Oh Hero, if only you had a positive attitude, everything would be all right." Yeah right, just sit on your butt all day and pretend that everything is perfect, and everything will be perfect. By that logic, you should never do anything at all.

I hate it when people say things like that too but the book mentioned in this thread is not about pretending that every thing is perfect.

The book is about learning how to positively COPE with unexpected stresses of every day life so you can be a healthier human being.

[publicduende]

Positive thinking has to be coupled with some realistic life goals, and some real effort to reach them. Only then it makes good sense. This is why I despise New Age-ish life philosophies which seem to be charitable in their aims, but they're just wrong when they still target non-spiritual, materialistic and often unreachable goals.

A typical example is Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" and all the fuzz and merchandise it generated. The idea of summoning some obscure mystical force that permeates the Universe is nothing but a glamorous New Age take to the notion of praying. Yet all religions and spiritual philosophies have warned us that praying is only effective when done with a pure heart and for a noble, spiritual purpose. You don't pray God or the Universe that they deliver a shiny new Ferrari or a hot partner right at our doorsteps. That's just another name for an undue sense of entitlement, typical of our "right here, right now" societies.

Let me get off subject.

I don't think that "The Secret" said anything about praying to God to get a Ferrari.

"The Secret" talks about the fact that energy comes from your thoughts and how it interacts with the cosmic energy in the Universe to manifest things into your life it's been scientifically proven that your thoughts affects the matter around you.

There's an infinite amount of energy that fills the entire universe as PROVEN by scientists.

And what would be wrong about praying to God for a red Ferrari???

But to get back on topic, the book mentioned in this thread is about something entirely different than what was mentioned in "The Secret".

AFAIK the only theory that has a certain scientific basis is that of the "zero point energy". I have no problem believing there is much more energy that permeates the universe than that we are capable of measuring with the state of the art of our technology.

The idea that thought affect the matter around us is a staple of Asian philosophies and religions from Hinduism to Buddhism. There have been reported cases of shamans or trained spiritual leaders (not talking about impostors like Sai Baba) who could create supernatural events which temporarily broke the laws of physics by virtue of their meditation techniques. It is well known that people who train for a few years can actually learn to levitate, which is in itself a little miracle as it defies gravity. It takes a lot of training and focus, though, and the effects are relatively small and short-lived.

Though not a believer, I prefer the classical Western take to the concept of prayer, as a vehicle to keep our hearts and minds focussed on what is truly important for our personal development/evolution. Which is perhaps how we love ourselves and the living creatures around us, or how we find real happiness and inner peace. Call me a purist, but in this framework there is very little space for material desires, as they simply do nothing towards our spiritual development.

Sorry, I am getting off-topic, too.

[Winston]