Positive thinking and positive outlook
If you remember, I did write about positive thinking many times in the past. And I was emphatic not to jump into it because there are a lot of people trying to dupe us into reading their books, watch their videos, and attend their seminars. While there are those who held the thought that their life were transformed by their presentation, still a good number end up weltering in the same wretched condition wondering what they did wrong, and why the “Law of Attraction” was not kind to them.
Well simply put it, these materials only work for a certain few. And if they indeed worked for some people, they are mostly anecdotal. By and large, they are designed to prey on the hopeless, to play upon the imagination of people that positive thinking is the easiest route to bring them closer to their dreams quickly. Positive thinking and the countless retouched versions of it that flood our bookshops are no more than a work of fiction in the guise of inspiration dappled with some science to appeal even the schooled.
Here’s a pinch on the face, if indeed these books and materials have any use to making the impossible possible, why can’t they just send them over in poverty-stricken nations and see if they would be able to reduce the number of hungry people in the area. Again, I am not saying that positive thinking is bad. I’m pointing out the obvious that it is abused and misused by people for financial gain.
We should know that positive thinking alone that does not make anyone rich. Our skills, our knowledge about the market, the manner we execute our plans, the resources we put, are some of the essential things that make up the success of any human endeavor – business or otherwise.
But where does positive thinking come to play? How does it contribute to the realization of a person’s dreams or goals in life? I think we should put into context the idea of positive thinking. And here’s my two cents. First and foremost, positive thinking is a misunderstood term like a “Don’t worry be happy” kind of concept. I dread using the term positive thinking because of such connotation. And it’s a dangerous way of seeing things in real life situations. Like, one can just easily say that, “You can always smoke weed and get away with it.”
I am inclined to replace positive thinking for “positive outlook” because this is what essentially positive thinking is all about. Outlook because it’s how we look outside of what we do. Thus, we can’t be so positive yet until we get to know what’s going on around us. In other words, positive outlook means the confidence to do something after knowing that there is good reason to believe that I can make the ordinary extraordinary.
Put it simply, here’s what I think of positive thinking as it is widely understood versus positive thinking/positive outlook. The former believes that he is already superman while the latter believes that he will be superman because the conditions are there. In real life, people succeed not because they believe that they are great but because they either create the conditions for greatness or the situation is ripe for them to become great.
I would like to discuss more about this in my next column.
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