Positive thinking and why

[I_UndergroundPanther]

It can harm people.

People are a mix of emotions,situations and different places in this reality.

It's easier to champion positive think if you're coming from a comfortable situation.

Secondly I really hate positive think. It's a lie people tell themselves to basically put lipstick on pigs..Lies like The Secret or A Course in Miracles are horrible if followed to it's logical conclusion..

And it's implied if you can't be positive enough you failed somehow and it's your fault for not being positive. Talk about circular logic. Even if the situation you find yourself in is painful or tragic happy thoughts are just thoughts like any other pretty much
. Positive thinking for some people makes everything worse. With it's upbeat deception.

Positive thinking or self mind fucking does not change anything in reality even though people like to believe it does. Like magic.

I don't think the universe cares about one person's positivity adherence among billions of other people in countless other situations among millions of towns and cities on earth on a single planet among infinite planets with thier own life forms or lack thereof.

To say the universe is conspiring to make *your* life better is ludicrous.

It's like prayer that way and praying is like wishing really hard, and that doesn't change anything either.

Confirmation bias makes stuff like positive think and prayer seem to change
things for the better.
It takes massive intellectual blinders and dishonesty to think this crap is true.

I have tried positive think and it led me to an emotional breakdown.

Been there done that ain't going there again.

Negative thoughts are just thoughts,as are positive, we all have them.And the universe could care less.

[StarryNite]

1. Well said.

Although I do envy people who are upbeat most of the time. They do seem happier. But I'm just not good at faking it.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Both of you

I_UndergroundPanther and StarryNite

Well said.

[XanaDUer2]

3. I'm on FB with someone who

constantly posts positive thoughts out to the universe for it to resonate back to them. Always posts positive- thought memes.

Constantly has bad things happen to them.

[Bettie]

4. Acknowledging the bad stuff allows us to deal with it

and work to change it.

Acting like everything is always going great and "going to turn out right" is burying your head in the sand.

Sometimes things suck.

Sometimes we are frustrated.

Being told by Susie Sunshine that everything is awesome doesn't help.

[Marrah_Goodman]

16. Exactly

Anytime I get scolded for being a negative Nancy, I just roll my eyes.

[stillcool]

5. I have to look for the upside in life

to do otherwise is no way to live. There's plenty of self-crap I can wallow in, and once I get going I'm more afraid of living than of dying. Granted, I have some emotional issues, including depression, but changing my thinking will change my life in the moment I'm living in. And that's all there is.

[Tree Lady]

6. I believe in living in the present not past or future

Most unpleasant crap is from digging up the past or anxiety about future.

But that doesn't mean everything is positive this minute, it means accepting what is right now good or bad.

I think we learn from our down times.

[Talitha]

12. THIS!!!!

[alittlelark]

7. If u can feel positive and happy at this time u r on the wrong site.

We are living in 'Interesting Times' and our way of life is being DIRECTLY threatened by christofascist cultists, gun nuts, authoritarians seeking an authority figure, Antivaxxers and many other lunatic groups.

Feeling HOPEFUL is what we need.

Watching comedies does wonders, animal rescue videos make u remember that there ARE good people out there. We all NEED to find ways to feel positive, if even only for a few hours.

We need to find times for humor and happiness - even if it is fleeting it helps.

[sanatanadharma]

8. Change happens. We can know this due only to the constant.

Change happens. We can know this due only to the constant.
Negative thoughts, positive thoughts, feeling happy, feeling sad, emotions, desires, they all come and go.

"I" perceive them; "I" am constant as the knower of the changing. What comes and goes can not be my identity.

Identify as the constant-witness within rather than with the changing-cloaks of many colors; interests, desires, attachments, fantasies, feelings...

[highplainsdem]

9. Some links:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-power-of-positive-thinking


https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950


https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/12/optistic-women-live-longer-are-healthier/


https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/how-the-power-of-positive-thinking-won-scientific-credibility/256223/


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4760272/


Now, some caveats -- you're usually best off with a balance of positivity and realism. Realism meaning recognizing problems and dealing with negative emotions and stress including traumatic stress.

As this article points out, some people find trying to think positive too stressful:

https://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/23/positive-thinking-myth-498447.html


Don't deny reality, but don't accept negative emotions and conditions as the ONLY reality, a permanent reality.


As Maya Angelou said, "Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud":

[I_UndergroundPanther]

13. Why the hell

Would I want to insert myself into someone else's cloud for?

Pretty presumptuous if
you ask me .

People feel stuff when they feel it. All I can do is offer an ear if they want it. I have no right to invade them with my rainbows.

[BannonsLiver]

10. Good news

You’re in luck. If you loathe positive thinking then this is the right place for you. Wait, am I being too positive?

[Solly Mack]

11. I honestly wanted to smack the "positive" people when I was being treated for cancer.

Not the ones that truly wished me well and then stopped with the well wishes - but those that constantly mouthed how I should stay positive and droned on and on and on about it.

They absolutely did make it sound as if it was all my fault for all my bad days for not having a positive attitude.

I agree with everything you said.

[BigmanPigman]

14. I am not neg, I am a realist.

[Duppers]

20. Exactly.

That's what I've told the unrealistic who love their blinders and are annoyed by hard facts. Yeah, I annoy people with facts.

[Marrah_Goodman]

15. I don't take the "think positive" approach when history tells me otherwise

It's not worth getting my hopes dashed. The older I get the more I sit back and wait to see what happens.

[uriel1972]

17. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst...

After having the crap kicked out of me most of my life, I am no positive thinker. However, I keep going somehow, usually through sheer determination and utter bloody mindedness.

Positive thinking strikes me as delusional.

[tiredtoo]

18. I have a small bush outside, next to my front door.

I tell everyone who enters my house the bush is for negative thoughts. Leave them there prior to entering. You can pick them up when you leave.

[Rebl2]

19. Oh thank

goodness. I have never been one to be a positive thinker. I have been this way since my teens. I have been more of a realistic type thinker. I have had medical problems since childhood and learned early on you can hope and pray to God all you want, but have been disappointed time after time. I get tired of people saying to me to think positive. No. Let me feel what I feel. Not every thought I have is negative. I do have positive thoughts when I feel positive about a situation and have a good realistic reason to feel that way.

[uriel1972]

21. And don't get me started about mindfulness...

Drives me furious 🤬