Written by Mathew Naismith
Can positive thinking lead to irrational
optimism and self-deceptiveness? As of myself as I will explain latter, I never
focused on being positive while experiencing trauma brought about by a chronic
injury. Because I did this, I was able to accomplish tasks well beyond the
boundaries set up by the mental and physical trauma I was experiencing. Just
because one is not being negative doesn't mean one is being positive and
visa-versa. This is likened to, just because we are not at war doesn't mean we
are at peace, in actuality there is a lot that exists between war and peace,
this is the same between negative and positive thinking. I actually prefer to
stay away from extreme thinking processes, more is always better isn't true, in
actuality moderation and balance is always better in the end.
I find articles like the following always
interesting; they often go beyond the way we have been conditioned to
think.
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https://www.success.com/article/the-negative-side-of-positive-thinking
Extract: He’s not the only one who’s frustrated with what many see as America ’s
relentless push toward positivity and the treatment of happiness as a
commodity. Not only can the happiness industry make us feel bad about
ourselves, as it did with Wilson, critics say, it can topple an economy or
worse, according to Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America.
Unchecked positive thinking and “irrational optimism” led to the housing market
crash in 2007, she contends.
Oliver Burkeman, author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, says that “positive thinking has become a sort of allergy
to anything negative. We are constantly on guard against negative thoughts, so
that any time we feel pessimistic or bad, we want to reassure ourselves and say
everything will be fine. But each time we do that, we inadvertently enforce the
notion that if things don’t turn out fine, it would be a total catastrophe.” Rather
than bolstering our resilience, he says, positive thinking actually undermines
it.
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Today I am astounded at what I accomplished
in my life, yes, I had to work within the boundaries of trauma but at no time
did I see these boundaries as being negative or a positive, they were simply
limitations to either overcome or let be. Never ever look at limitations as
being negative, they are simply limitations created by circumstance.
We are well and truly conditioned to think
if it's not one it has to be the other. I call this a black and white
mentality, it's got to be one or the other when in actually most of what is, is
neither of just black or white, negative or positive.
Why firstly have a dire need to only focus
on the positives? The more negatives we perceive within our environment, the
more of a dire need we have to be positive. What if you didn't perceive
everything that creates boundaries and limitations as being simply negative,
nothing else!! What is occurring to the environment because we have few
limitations in the way we impact on the environment? There is no moderation in
our pollutants to start with and at the same time there is no moderation, no
limitations, to destroying the natural environment through clearing.
How often is our unlimited potential
mentioned to us these days which is mostly based on positive thinking, a
potential that is not moderate in accordance with its environment? This
includes any environment. My environment was to be limited to the traumas I
experienced in life even though I went beyond these limitations. When I
excessively went beyond these limitations I suffered big time, I in fact
compounded my trauma especially when I took no painkillers.
Most of the times I didn't need painkillers,
this is because I didn't allow my pain to control me. Just because I didn't
allow the pain to control me, to force me to take pain killers, doesn't mean I
took control of my pain.
This is the way we are conditioned to
think, if you're not allowing pain/trauma to control you, you must have control
of the pain/trauma, a black and white mentality. I think anyone who has
experienced severe trauma would agree with me, at no time are you in control of
the pain/trauma, you just simply try not to allow the pain/trauma to control
you. You take pain killer so you think you have control, what enticed you to
take painkillers in the first place? Pain, pain is more in control not less
when taking painkillers.
This is the same with negative and positive
thinking, do you allow the negative thinking to control you to primarily have a
dire need to think positive!! In cases like this negative thinking is more in
control, not less, we are simply being self-deceptive here.
However, because I didn't take painkillers
I now suffer with compounding trauma that can be compounded by various
experiences related in some way to my life trauma. Any kind of pain can cause
me further trauma beyond of what the pain should, of course this only occurs
when I allow any pain to control me. If I took painkiller in sever
circumstances in my life, it is unlikely I would now be suffering with
compounding trauma. It's to do with moderation, moderating when pain/trauma was
going to control me.
A lot of people are today confusing
positive thinking with moderation, a balanced mind set in accordance with the
environment we are experiencing, any and all environments. Moderation and
balance is simply the grey area between negative and positive thinking, there
are simply no extremes within this state of mind and being. What you can
accomplish within this state of mind is utterly astounding while at the same
time existing within certain limitations.