What do you think about "negative thinking?"?
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Zen (
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July 24th, 2009
I recently read a few articles on the subject and found the concept very interesting. Although not American, I grew up with American culture and certainly TV and movies, books and newspapers. I never really second-guessed the concept of positive thinking and all those self-help books that use it. I just assumed that you were either the kind of person who benefitted from it, or not. Just as some people are auto-didactic, some prefer (or need) to be taught.
But I never really thought that positive thinking and re-affirmation could be downright WRONG – and some say harmful, to about 50% of the people.
Look up negative thinking and the studies and reasons, then tell us of your thoughts and maybe even experiences, good and bad.
:-)
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12 Answers
Yes, I recently read someplace that certain affirmation practices do more harm than good
Negativity is an energy which carries into your life dis-ease. I try to keep my attitude positive by not dwelling too far into the dark side. Like thinking about Jaws while swimming in Florida. I doubt that affirmative practices ever do any harm and am more inclined to believe the opposite.
Although, some of us are able to dwell deeply into both sides of the reality, both positive and negative with no deleterious effects whatever.
As for your problem with auto-didactics, i suggest you get yourself a girlfriend. :)
If you believe that everything you do will lead to failure then you have eliminated your chances of success.
It makes sense to me, honestly. The article didn’t suggest once that people give in to their negative feelings – just that certain people should acknowledge them. That, I completely agree with. Humans have many emotions, not just happiness. To ignore the negative feelings is to also ignore where those feelings come from, what they stem from. And to ignore that is to never be able to better yourself at all.
For people who don’t have low self-esteem, I’m sure this idea seems laughable. But for someone who does have low self-esteem, you can’t just start saying, “Wow, I rock!” one day and believe it. You have to fight your demons head on in order to kick their ass. I think they’re on to something and I think it’s a good idea.
Too much of any one thing is bad. Think too positively of yourself and you’re an egoistic piece of crap. Think too little of yourself and you’re a repulsive emotic dribble. You accept your weaknesses but recognise your strengths. Focus on these strengths, but recognise that you’re only human.
As the old adage goes: Everything in moderation.
Now if only I could take my own advice to heart….
P.S. I didn’t read the article, but these are just my thoughts on the issue
@DrasticDreamer I think you hit it on the nail. @Saturated_Brain Please read the article, then comment. It’s not about intuition, it’s about Psychology. I would be curious as to your thoughts once you’ve read it.
Very interesting article. I can totally see how and why this may be true, and important to acknowledge. Mindfulness is steadily making its way into modern day therapy, and I can only think it’s a good thing overall. Therapy is incorporating more Zen!
Read the article. And I somewhat agree with it. But you see, I don’t think that the author has really got it spot on. He’s mistaken positive telling with positive thinking. I may tell myself that I’m great, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I think and feel that I’m great if I feel that I definitely don’t deserve that label.
What’s more important is to show people why they’re great rather than stopping at telling people that they are great.
However, I disagree with ‘negative thinking’, as he puts it. You don’t agree with yourself that you suck and try to put things into perspective. All you end up with is that you suck, just that there’re other more important things to worry about. Whoops. Looks like you suck and you’re insignificant too.
No. You bring yourself out of that cesspit you’ve put yourself into by accepting that you have your faults, but that you have your great points too. Accept the imperfections which are inherent in yourself, because nobody’s perfect.
I like to think that it’s all the little imperfections in life which serve to make life perfect. Likewise, it’s all the little imperfections in humanity which make humanity so beautiful too (although it’s hard to accept this sometimes).
Being negative doesn’t help any situation. Yeah, it might prepare you for the worse, but who wants to live life thinking every situation will go as wrong as possible?
I’ve been giving this some thought… neither negative nor positive thinking does much in the way of changing your life. Realistic thinking can. I think that’s what we should be shooting for.
@augustlan et al: I spoke with someone who was very positively affected by the article, someone whose opinion I regard highly. She reaffirmed what I had thought initially: most of us are conditioned, and at this point it’s probably inherent and almost genetic, to believe in “positive thinking”, in the “self-help”, Oprah kind of way. The study shows that this often does not work, and in some cases, may even harm. She felt this was the case with her.
Until recently, it wasn’t talked about, nor really studied clinically. It will take time, perhaps a generation, until this sinks in. If, as some studies have shown, fifty percent or so of the people could benefit from negative (as opposed to positive) thinking in treatment, or even in “self-help”, i.e., someone trying to help them, say, then we should spread the word, and encourage more study of this issue.
:-)
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